Sumith Prasad
Paramount+’s Western series ‘1923’ follows the captivating saga of Jacob Dutton and Cara Dutton, the patriarch and matriarch of the Dutton family during the 1920s. The brother of James Dutton, who established the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch in Montana, Jacob tries his best to protect the ranch when several threats arise that challenge the ranch and the family’s survival due to Prohibition and the Great Depression. James’ son John Dutton Sr. and his son Jack Dutton join Jacob to deal with the threats as well. Since ‘1923’ revolves around the brother and sister-in-law of the protagonist of ‘1883,’ the viewers must be trying to find out whether the couple is in the latter as well. On that note, here’s everything you need to know about the same!
Jacob and Cara Are Not Featured in 1883
No, Jacob and Cara Dutton are not in ‘1883.’ Even though ‘1923’ is a sequel to ‘1883,’ the series mostly follows original characters who haven’t been featured in the Tim McGraw-starrer. James Badge Dale’s John Dutton Sr. and the narrator of the show, Isabel May’s Elsa Dutton, are the only characters who feature in ‘1883’ as well. Both Jacob and Cara are original characters conceived for ‘1923’ to represent the Dutton family forty years after the events that happen in ‘1883.’
James Dutton and his family, including his wife Margaret Dutton, daughter Elsa, and son John Sr., arrive in Montana from Tennessee upon joining a wagon train in Texas. Jacob doesn’t join his brother and family and must have chosen to remain in their home state. After Elsa’s death, James and others settle in the land where they buried the former and establish the Dutton Ranch. James dies in 1893. Jacob and his Irish immigrant wife Cara must have arrived in Montana for the funeral of the former’s brother, only to realize that his sons John Sr. and Spencer Dutton aren’t old enough to run the ranch on their own.
Since Jacob and Cara do not have children, they become a father and mother to John Sr. and Spencer after James and Margaret’s deaths. Thus, Jacob and Cara must have moved to the Dutton Ranch from Tennessee to care for James and Margaret’s sons and the ranch they built using their blood and sweat. If that’s the case, Jacob and Cara’s absence in ‘1883’ and their positions in the family as the patriarch and matriarch are justified. Jacob and Cara most likely know how much James and Margaret had suffered to find a way to survive their family, and the same must motivate the couple to protect the family and ranch the best way they can.
Although Jacob and Cara are not part of James’ expedition to Montana in ‘1883,’ which leads the latter to build the Dutton Ranch, the couple knows the significance of the same. According to Harrison Ford, who plays Jacob, the Dutton patriarch will try his best to protect what his brother built even if he wasn’t a witness of the same. “The whole future of the [Dutton] family is in his [Jacob’s] hands. Decisions he makes are going to affect the immediate present and near future, but the opportunities forever may diminish under his watch, under his control, and he’s fighting against it to preserve what he’s enjoyed and what his family fought for and gained for future generations,” Ford told TV Guide.
Read More: How is Helen Mirren’s Cara Related to Kevin Costner’s John Dutton?
