Yellowstone fans were pleased to see the prequel 1923 make a comeback on The Paramount Network and Paramount Plus in February. The second outing sees Alex (played by Julia Schlaepfer) board a ship in the hope of finding her husband Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar) in Montana.
She is not travelling alone, as Alex revealed to her best friend in the first episode that she was pregnant with Spencer’s child. This comes both as a comfort and a worry to Alex as she has the added challenge of keeping her unborn baby out of harm’s way.
Speaking to The Mirror US, Julia explained how the filming experience for season two was the “polar opposite” of the first season. She admitted it was a much tougher journey due to the new season’s content.
She explained: “In season one we were filming a love story, we were running around in the sunshine in Africa, travelling the world. We had each other to rely on and bounce ideas off of.
“This season we were all pretty isolated and it’s a tougher season in terms of content, and in many ways that was very helpful as an actor because you are stripped of the people that you relied on.
“You just have to figure out how to do it on your own and take care of yourself and again, it’s not an easy breezy love story this season.”
She said although it was a difficult experience, it helped her grow as an actor, adding: “It was helpful because mentally you are going through a lot but I learned a lot as an actor about how to take care of myself and mentally make sure I was staying healthy and good.
“The crew on our show truly became my family, they are the best people in the world, they are so good at their jobs and on those really long, hard days we only had each other so they made this experience so special.”
She detailed how her days off were focussed on “self care and therapy”, adding: “I would take boxing classes to get physical tension out because your body doesn’t know the difference between what is real or fake.
“My body was just in fight or flight mode so it was helpful to get that out a little bit.”
On how she dealt with Alex’s tough storylines, she explained it was an incredible learning experience.
“One of the first days on set I thought I was going to stay in that mental headspace all day and kind of live in that pain,” she began.
“And then I was like ‘Oh, I don’t think this is helpful for me, nor is it good for me’ and I found it was much better to balance it.
“As soon as they yell cut I’m laughing with the crew and having a good time and taking myself out of it and remembering it’s acting.”
1923 airs on The Paramount Network and Paramount Plus on Sundays
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