1923 Season 2 is almost here to round out this era of Duttons, but if you look closer, there’s another lineage-based mystery that needs to be solved.
Season 2 will have plenty of work to finish before Taylor Sheridan moves on to the likes of 1944 and The Madison. One of the biggest questions has been the matter of John Dutton’s grandparents, and whether that’s Spencer and Alexandra or Jack and Elizabeth.
With even the cast playing coy about the matter, it’s anyone’s guess as to which couple actually go on to continue the family’s history.
Only Sheridan’s legacy-obsessed franchise could have viewers obsessed with a simple gap in the family tree. But if we look away from the Duttons, there’s another connection to his flagship series that has yet to be confirmed.
Thomas Rainwater has an ancestor in 1923
Aside from the Duttons, there’s another big name that appears in both 1923 and Yellowstone: Rainwater. In Yellowstone, Thomas Rainwater is the Chief of the Broken Rock Reservation, as well as the owner of the profitable casinos in the area.
He begins as an enemy of John Dutton, wanting to take the land back and return it to his people. But as the threats grow against both parties, John and Thomas eventually develop a mutual respect. By the end of the series, the connection between the two is solidified through the Dutton prophecy. In other words, Rainwater does get the ranch.
In 1923, there’s another Rainwater in the mix: Teonna. Her story is far more tragic, however. At the start of the prequel, she’s entrapped in an American Indian boarding school. There, she’s abused by nuns and forced to give up her language, all inspired by a very real and terrible part of history.
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But she escapes, and by the Season 1 finale, she’s on the run, hoping to find her father. So, the two Rainwaters are obviously related, but the question from fans is: how?
The prequel series has yet to confirm a real bloodline, but the general thinking among fans is that she is Thomas’ grandmother. However, this conflicts with another popular theory that Teonna will die before the end of Season 2.
“I doubt Thomas Rainwater is any older then John is in the main series so, unless Teonna had him in her fifties or sixties, she’s more likely to be his grandmother,” one Redditor wrote.
“That sounds more probable,” said another. “I know that technically, we don’t know when Thomas was born, but I doubt very much he is supposed to be that old lol – especially if Teonna does indeed die in 1923/1924 (I personally don’t think she will die in S2 but that’s another topic).”
A third noted, “If Teonna was to be killed off in an episode of 1923 that would mean she would need to conceive and birth Rainwater beforehand and, taking the setting of the show from its title, that would mean he’d have to be born in the titular year putting his age in the final season of Yellowstone at 101, which I don’t think he is!”
For more, check out our guide to the 1923 cast. You can also learn more about all the Yellowstone spinoffs, and see what other new TV shows are out over the next month.
