[This story contains major spoilers from the penultimate episode of 1923 season two, “The Mountain Teeth of Monsters.”]
The penultimate season two episode of 1923 delivered death after death. A whopping seven bodies were left in wake of the sixth episode from creator Taylor Sheridan, titled “The Mountain Teeth of Monsters.” Everything that happened will barrel the Western saga into what is sure to be a propulsive season finale, but let’s stop for a moment and mourn what was lost.
Michael Spears has been playing Runs His Horse for two seasons on the Yellowstone prequel series, with Jeremy Gauna inheriting his role as Pete Plenty Clouds after the untimely death of original star Cole Brings Plenty. Cole died about two months after the season one finale released. (A cause of death was not revealed.) Cole was the nephew of Mo Brings Plenty, the American Indian affairs coordinator on both 1923 and Yellowstone, the latter on which he also stars as Mo, the right-hand man to Chief Thomas Rainwater (played by Gil Birmingham), who is a future relative to Aminah Nieves’ Teonna Rainwater of 1923.
When speaking to Spears and Gauna about their deaths, which came in episode six, emotions are ripe. “I’m emotional even talking about it now,” says Gauna, “but reading the script was very, very, very hard because of everything that happened in real life.”
“The Mountain Teeth of Monsters” picked up after last week’s cliffhanger, when Pete Plenty Clouds found himself in a shoot out with the men who have been hunting Teonna since her season one escape from an Indian assimilation boarding school run by the Catholic Church. When the priest hunting her, Father Renaud (Sebastian Roche), and Marshall Kent (Jamie McShane) come upon Pete Plenty Clouds, Kent shoots and kills Pete. In turn, Father Renaud kills Kent. But when Renaud later comes upon Runs His Horse and daughter Teonna by a fire (one that Spears points out Runs His Horse had said they shouldn’t light), any mercy from the priest is gone. He shoots and kills a near-sleeping Runs His Horse, which prompts an epic battle between Teonna and Renaud — one where she ends up victorious. She burns his face and stabs him multiple times, and shoots him dead for good measure.
With so much to unpack, Spears and Gauna take The Hollywood Reporter inside the episode to reveal their reactions when they found out their fates (“Who wants their character to pass away? I didn’t want that,” says Spears) and explain how their real emotions bled into the scene (“On set that day, when they [Father Renaud and Marshall Kent] roll up on me, all the emotions — the tears, the sounds, the gasping, the breathing — everything you hear is a hundred percent real. Because at that moment, I can attest that Aminah felt this way, she saw Cole laying there,” says Gauna). The co-stars also talk about their hopes for this episode to live on with a legacy about Native representation and tribal relations with the U.S. “What happens to us on a micro level on 1923 was happening on a macro level to everybody at that time,” says Spears in the conversation below.
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This is such a powerful episode. Michael, can you go back and tell me how the role of Runs His Horse first came to you?
MICHAEL SPEARS It came pretty much like most of my auditions. I read for the role and did a self-tape. Originally, I didn’t think they wanted me but I had just heard through the grapevine that I was fought for, which made me feel really good to be valued in that way. For the original Yellowstone series, I read for Chief Rainwater’s role [the role that went to Gil Birmingham]. I’ve worked with Gil plenty of times, including in Into the West (2005). We got to know each other on that show and have since read for roles in the same show. So it was refreshing and a bit nostalgic to be able to play his grandfather [Runs His Horse].
As a Lakota actor originally from South Dakota, were there ways that you personally contributed to Runs His Horse, when it came to language spoken in the series or what he wore?
SPEARS I was happy to be a part of the creative process of Runs His Horse. Gabby Acosta is the wardrobe department head and when we went into fit and try the different looks for Runs His Horse, we just had fun in the wardrobe room, putting on different costumes. My contribution as far as his look went was that he’s a warrior at heart. He’s a leader of his people and a father, and his name is indicative of his personality, his character and what he has earned in his life.
I asked them to add elk teeth to my vest. I was recently adopted into the Apsáalooke Nation, the Crow Nation. They are a warrior, hunter tribe and knowing that they live in Montana and that 1923 takes place in Montana, there’s a lot of elk there. In our culture, we use their ivories as representation of how good of a hunter you are, how well of a provider you are for your people. I said, “I’m a warrior. We have to incorporate that somehow. I’d like to wear our representation of the water people,” which is indicative of a connection with the Thunder Beings. So I had the shells and then we also included one in his necklace that he wears, which belonged to his mother.
Jeremy, you inherited this role after the untimely death of Cole Brings Plenty. I’ve read interviews with you speaking about taking on Pete Plenty Cloud’s legacy and I’ve spoken with your co-star Aminah Nieves (who plays Teonna). When you took on the role, did you bring anything personal to the character for season two?
JEREMY GAUNA I kind of just let the character be as he was. I tried to bring my own style of his reactions to certain things he sees and witnesses, the smiles and things of that nature that Cole had already established. I wanted to honor and make sure that everyone outside of this who doesn’t even know me or know anything about the situation understands that I wholeheartedly came into this with Cole and my ancestors guiding me, and making sure that I honored and tried to represent Pete to the best way that Cole would have, in the way that he did. That was my main focus and the main goal. I didn’t want it to be about me. I didn’t want to get the accolades or anything of that nature. I just wanted to make sure that I represented the Brings Plenty family to the best that I could. Hopefully that translates and that shows with the way you see Pete on screen.
This ending hits very hard. We’ve been on this journey with your characters fleeing and protecting our hero, Teonna, and now in the blink of a shotgun, they’re both gone. Can you talk about the conversations you had with Taylor Sheridan or how you reacted when you found out their fates?
SPEARS My conversation with Taylor was very limited. I felt that including the Apsáalooke language was something integral to our characters and to the story. In the first scene, it originally was not written with Apsáalooke. There was no traditional language. So my first conversations with Taylor was getting approval to include that, and have a moment of transition from Apsáalooke to English, which I think played very nicely. That was my first interaction with him as far as character and development.
When it came to reading the death of our characters, I didn’t have any control over that. I was definitely disappointed a little, because of course, who wants their character to pass away? I didn’t want that. We made it so far. Runs His Horse tells his children not to light a fire and in thinking with that mentality, I would have thought he would have continued that. But we ended up lighting a fire and consequently getting found and him being shot while pretty much sleeping.
Jeremy, I imagine you had conversations with Taylor about your arc since you came on for season two. What was that like when you realized you have six episodes to make Pete’s legacy?
GAUNA It was very difficult, especially with everything that happened in real life to Cole. Cole had so much expectations with the character. He had so much joy knowing that he was getting to be a part of six episodes, and that was taken away from him abruptly. That was extremely hard for coming in, and it still has a lot of weight on my shoulders because obviously it’s bigger than anything I could ever fathom, and then reading the script and seeing what happens in the show when knowing what happened in real life, and I’m sure Michael can attest to this, but even on set that day when they [Father Renaud and Marshall Kent] roll up on me, all the emotions — the tears, the sounds, the gasping, the breathing — everything you hear is a hundred percent real. Because at that moment, and I assume Michael felt this way, but I can attest that Aminah felt this way, she saw Cole laying there.
I’m emotional even talking about it now, but reading the script was very, very, very hard because of everything that happened in real life. And it was coming to thousands and thousands of stories of our people that have happened like this before, so it’s very difficult. But it’s also a blessing to be a part of because we get to showcase and tell stories that you’ve never heard or seen before. That’s very powerful for our ancestors and for our people. That’s a blessing to be a part of.
Having that conversation with Taylor at the beginning was very bittersweet. I want to celebrate this opportunity, but I also want to grieve for my friend. I think combining those two things, and having that honor and respect for Pete, really carried me along. It gave me the ability to lay my heart out and just allow Pete to be himself and continue that name. Hopefully I did everybody a justice and made everybody proud, because that’s all I wanted to do was just honor and represent.
There are two key conversations Runs His Horse has with Teonna around each death. First when you come upon Pete’s body, Michael, you explain how you can’t give him a proper burial. Then by the campfire before your character’s death, you talk with Teonna about why she has to live on, despite her despair. She’s now lost her father and the love of her life, but you see that she still fights back. How do you imagine that your deaths will forever change her into who she becomes?
SPEARS Well, I like to imagine and think that our deaths are going to be something that is a springboard for her to continue on the legacy of our people and her as a woman, as well. In the show, historically, she hasn’t really been given the time to fully cope and process all the trauma she’s been through. At that time, America’s history with Indian people, the Native people of the land, was very traumatic, very sudden and systematic. The government knew what they were doing. What happens to us on a micro level on 1923 was happening on a macro level to everybody at that time.
Like you said, she’s a survivor. I would like to think that our deaths would further fuel her heart, her character’s fierce and steady nature towards her end goal. She’s told that she has to live on for her people. As an Indigenous nation, we hold the women up the highest. They are our life givers, they are the backbone of our people. Even the tipi, everything is a model after the woman. So I just think she has a lot to cope with, seeing not only her lose her love and her father, but prior to that, she lost her best friends. She lost her grandmother. She lost her land. But she didn’t lose herself, and that’s important.
We heard her father tell her that Pete died so she could be free. Now that the men who were hunting her are also dead, is she finally free now?
SPEARS Well, when you look at the historical truths of what was happening in America at that time, are we truly free today, in reality? I think the the public needs to better understand America’s history with the tribal nations. Our treaty relationships and the guarantees that tribal nations have with the United States have been really, really dwindling, All the treaty-promised services and tribes have been whittled away since the treaties were signed. So services right now are dwindling. But what remains with us is our identity, and I think Runs His Horse conveys that in the campfire scene when he lets Teonna know that we will live on and we will be needed. It’s self- evident today.
Taylor ends the episode speaking to that with Elsa Dutton’s voiceover monologue about man destroying the land. What did each of you take away from those words?
GAUNA There are a lot of things that Taylor says in this show that are so relevant to today. For example, Helen Mirren has three or four lines talking about a refrigerator and how, at one point in time, she won’t have to go outside because it’ll be inside her home. Taylor is very smooth about sneaking those in with a clear intention and guidance, and I think that’s what he’s doing with that last message. He’s making it relevant to today and what’s happening right now currently in the world. He’s very, very good at that. His writing reflects that.
To caveat back to what I think the deaths will leave Teonna with, I hope and believe it would be strength, courage, awareness and gratitude for everything she’s lost and has gone through. In the future, we have hope for her, because that’s something she deserves. We want that happiness for her because it’s been very rough. We got to see a little bit of happiness, but it diminished very quickly. That’s again, current to today’s world and an attribute to Taylor and the way that he’s scripted it. He’s made one or two sentences that extend beyond the show to make you think further, and that’s fantastic to be a part of.
SPEARS The awareness that the show is going to bring is gratifying. Even I have relatives and family members who relate to the story and want to know more. They want to know what’s going on in the show, and just like Jeremy said, it’s so relevant today. We are still twice as likely to be killed in America as any other demographic. There’s the MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women) movement. We have all of these things to help us, to bring awareness to what’s happening and what has happened. And I think that Teonna’s story is going to inspire not only women and men alike, but people in general to want to know more, want to be more, want to do more. That awareness is going to create change and a positive movement.
But I think Bruce Lee said it best when he said, “Knowing is not enough. We must do.” Everybody’s going to know a lot about what has happened. But just like with Teonna’s story, they got to see firsthand the troubles and the traumas that happened and now that we know, what are we going to do about it? We’re still here.
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1923 releases its season two finale Friday on Paramount+. Follow along with THR’s season coverage and interviews, including our postmortem interview with Darren Mann on episode six.
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