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1883 Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
10 Episodes 2021 - 2022
Episode 1
1883
Sun, Dec 19, 202167 mins
In a flash-forward, Elsa Dutton (Isabel May) watches in late 1883 as a group of pioneers are slaughtered by a band of Lakota on the Great Plains. She kills one, before being surrounded. Months earlier, former Union Army captain Shea Brennan (Sam Elliott) cremates his wife and daughter after they die of smallpox. His partner Thomas (LaMonica Garrett) arrives and prevents him from committing suicide when he informs him of a Pinkerton job in Fort Worth, Texas. Shea and Thomas depart for Fort Worth and observe James Dutton (Tim McGraw) kill thieves who attempt to rob his covered wagon. Meanwhile, James' family: his wife, Margaret (Faith Hill); 17-year-old daughter, Elsa; 5-year-old son, John; his sister, Claire (Dawn Olivieri); and Claire's teenage daughter, Mary Abel (Emma Malouff), travel to Fort Worth from Tennessee via train. James continues to encounter antagonistic criminals in town, while Shea and Thomas meet with a group of inexperienced European immigrants who pay them for an escort to Oregon. After the Duttons arrive, the family stays at a hotel, and a drunken man enters Elsa's room and attempts to rape her before being killed by James. Realizing a partnership would be advantageous, Shea convinces James to accompany the wagon train to Oregon.
Episode 2
Behind Us, a Cliff
Sun, Dec 19, 202160 mins
In a flashback to September 17, 1862, Confederate Captain James Dutton is comforted by Union General George Meade (Tom Hanks) following the stalemate at the Battle of Sharpsburg. In the present, Shea, James, and Thomas prepare for the journey west. Shea hires two cowboys, Wade (James Landry Hébert) and Ennis (Eric Nelsen), to help catch and escort feral cattle. As the wagon train departs, tensions rise between the Americans and the immigrants, as interpreter Josef (Marc Rissmann) struggles to keep his group in line with Shea's perceived harsh decisions. A group of riders approach the wagon train, resulting in a confrontation caused by Claire throwing rocks at the leader. A shootout ensues, leaving Mary Abel and some immigrants dead. Shea, Thomas, James, and Josef team up with Jim Courtright (Billy Bob Thornton) to track down the killers to a crowded saloon. Distraught at losing her daughter, Claire commits suicide, and the group continues west.
Episode 3
River
Sun, Dec 26, 202144 mins
In the unforgiving wilderness, camp life strains under clashing wills and unspoken fears. Decisions ignite conflict, accusations unsettle fragile bonds, and budding attraction threatens to complicate survival. Every choice carries weight, every glance carries desire, as the group navigates the harsh realities of the frontier.
Episode 4
The Crossing
Sun, Jan 9, 202255 mins
Elsa embraces the cowgirl lifestyle and becomes smitten with Ennis. Thomas offers Noemi help and protection, but refuses her offer of marriage. James and his family opt to cross the river during the night and attempt to help the immigrants cross the following day. However, the crossing proves fatal for several of the immigrants who lack swimming experience. Once across, the group continues west.
Episode 5
The Fangs of Freedom
Sun, Jan 16, 202256 mins
With supplies short after a food wagon is lost in the river crossing, Josef reveals that a thief among them is hoarding the settlers' remaining stores. Shea, Thomas, and James confront the thieves, take back the supplies, and banish them from the group. Wade informs Shea and Thomas that bandits are active in the region. Elsa and Ennis grow closer and the pair have sex, which Margaret witnesses from afar. Elsa receives harsh words from her mother about her decisions. James confronts Ennis, who proclaims his love for Elsa, which James acknowledges. Meanwhile, a group of bandits ambush and kill the banished settlers, and the remaining settler group prepare for a fight. In the ensuing battle, Elsa is saved by Ennis, who in turn is shot and dies. Elsa kills Ennis' shooter.
Episode 6
Boring the Devil
Sun, Jan 30, 202251 mins
Shea shares his empathy with the mourning Elsa. The group stops at Doan's Crossing, on the border of Indian Territory. There, Shea employs Colton (Noah Le Gros), a cowboy to replace Ennis, and Cookie (James Jordan), a camp cook. Thomas buys a mirror for Noemi, who professes that she loves him and his gift means he loves her back. Elsa confronts a pair of catcalling men and draws her gun on them, causing a standoff which James defuses. Margaret gets drunk with Carolyn (Rita Wilson), a local shopkeeper, and argues with James about how the journey is changing Elsa.
Episode 7
Lightning Yellow Hair
Sun, Feb 6, 202253 mins
Elsa Dutton crosses paths with a Comanche warrior who challenges everything she thinks she knows about survival and belonging. Meanwhile, the wagon train confronts a devastating storm that tears through their fragile sense of progress, leaving the camp fractured and desperate. One of their own goes missing in the chaos, forcing the group to make impossible choices about who to save and what to sacrifice. The prairie becomes a character, merciless and indifferent.
Episode 8
The Weep of Surrender
Sun, Feb 13, 202255 mins
Heavy snow clouds gather on the horizon while the wagon train stalls in the unforgiving dirt of the Great Plains. Elsa Dutton is torn between the beckoning freedom of a life with the Comanche and the rigid expectations of her family's westward journey. As Shea Brennan grapples with the mounting mortality of his group, the pioneers must decide whether to chase a dream of Oregon or succumb to the brutal reality of the wilderness.
Episode 9
Racing Clouds
Sun, Feb 20, 202256 mins
A devastating misunderstanding ignites a brutal clash between a wagon train and a grieving group of Lakota warriors. Survival becomes a desperate scramble as Elsa and the pioneers face the horrific fallout of a crime they did not commit. Fear turns to cold reality under the wide Montana sky when the cost of the journey finally demands its heaviest toll. Blood spills across the tall grass, forever altering the path of the Dutton family.
Episode 10
This Is Not Your Heaven
Sun, Feb 27, 202265 mins
Elsa Dutton stares down the inevitable end of her journey while her parents, James and Margaret, scramble to find a final resting place that will keep her spirit tethered to the land. The wagon train reaches its ultimate fracture point as the remaining immigrants face a brutal choice between safety and the unknown. In the shadow of the majestic mountains, a father makes a desperate pact with the wilderness to trade his daughter's peace for a permanent home.
