One Actor Almost Didn’t Audition For Role In Yellowstone Prequel 1923

The Yellowstone prequel 1923 has only aired two episodes, but already it looks like another major hit for Taylor Sheridan. In fact, the series premiere set a major record for Paramount+. Meanwhile, fans are busy tuning in each week to find out what is happening with the Dutton ancestors and other characters. However, one star of the prequel almost didn’t audition for a role in 1923. Now, however, she is glad she did.

Yellowstone prequel 1923

After only two episodes, the Yellowstone prequel 1923 is already becoming a major hit with Paramount+ viewers. In fact, it is already clear that 1923, starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, will be another major hit for creator Taylor Sheridan. Meanwhile, among the other characters, a young Native American woman, Teonna Rainwater, almost had a different actor in the role.

It turns out Aminah Nieves, who plays the role of Teonna Rainwater, almost didn’t audition for the show. Meanwhile, her character, Teonna, is taken from the reservation and sent to a Catholic boarding school in North Dakota.

Speaking of the role, Aminah Nieves, who plays Teonna, told E! News that she initially told her manager she wasn’t going to audition for the series. It turns out she could totally relate to the character, and said, “I didn’t want to do it,” adding:

I actually told my manager that I wasn’t going to audition for it. It’s a big burden and you’re opening up a lot more when you’re actually living in what your family lived through. Because of their strength and because of what they did for us, I didn’t have to live through that in the same exact way that they did.

Teonna in the series 1923

So far, in 1923, viewers have seen Rainwater and another young woman at the residential school being abused by the nuns. In fact, they were also abused by the priest in charge of the school, particularly Teonna, who has experienced extreme abuse.

Meanwhile, Nieves said in the interview that she did, eventually, decide to audition for the role. However, she ended up leaning on her real-life family for support, saying, “I was speaking with my mom a lot,” adding:

I almost didn’t feel worth enough to tell this story because it’s so important. It’s scary when you’re telling something that has been a part of you since you were just a thought, since you were a little light beam in the cosmos. It’s terrifying.

Nieves said that after the third self-tape, she “couldn’t not do it,” adding,

I could not get that third self-tape. I couldn’t get through it. I was bawling. I was like, I need to do it, not only for me, but I looked at my mom on the other side and I was like, ‘I gotta [sic] do it for her.’

About the Yellowstone prequel

Following on from the prequel 1883, 1923 is the next part of the origin story of the Dutton family. The series introduces another generation of the family, led by patriarch Jacob (Ford) and matriarch (Mirren).

Moreover, the Yellowstone prequel will explore the early 20th century. This was a time of historic drought, pandemics, the Great Depression and the end of Prohibition. All these aspects of America’s past will affect Montana and the Dutton family living there.

Besides Nieves, Ford and Mirren, the series also stars Darren Mann, Michelle Randolph, James Badge Dale, Marley Shelton, Brian Geraghty and Jerome Flynn.

The Yellowstone prequel streams on Paramount+