Sam Elliott Felt Like He Was “Gonna Die” While Making “1883”

Yellowstone / YouTube

The stars of 1883 have spoken about how challenging it was to film the Yellowstone prequel series. They filmed most of their scenes outdoors, so they were at the mercy of the elements.

A large portion of the series was filmed in Texas in the summer. The temperatures were sweltering, and the cast was dressed in period-appropriate costumes, meaning they were wearing long sleeves, layers, and heavy fabrics.

Isabel May, who plays Elsa, previously spoke about the unbearable heat they dealt with. “Sweat poured down parts of my body I didn’t know sweat could pour down,” May said on The Kelly Clarkson Show.

“I don’t think many of us when it came to weather conditions were acting…” she said.

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Sam Elliott also detailed how he felt about the brutal weather conditions they coped with while filming.

Elliott plays Shea Brennan, the leader of the of the wagon train. In the series, Brennan tries his best to guide the pioneers through dangerous situations such as river crossings and storms. These challenges prove to be too much for some of the travelers, who die along the way.

These losses illustrate just how dangerous it was for the real-life pioneers who traveled via wagon train. But as Elliott shared on an episode of the Official Yellowstone Podcast, he swore he was going to die just while acting like he was living in the late 1800s.

“I think the hell of it is just dealing with the elements, more than anything,” Elliott said. “There were times when it was like 108 degrees down there in Fort Worth when we first started.”

Eliott said the intense heat was more difficult to deal with because of the costumes they wore.

“We were out in the sun all day long, we were wearing wolves’ jackets,” he described. “The immigrants were wearing layers and layers of wool clothes.”

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The cast and crew later traveled to Montana to film there. While temperatures were high in Texas, they were low in Montana.

“Then we go up to Montana and it’s f—— freezing cold,” Elliott said. “I mean cold…And I don’t have a lot of clothes on, I’m wearing, like, a pair of pants and a jacket for most of the thing. And a vest and a shirt.”

Elliott said in those moments, he wondered if he was going to make it off set alive:

“But there were times when it rains just enough to get wet, and then it started to ice up. I just remember thinking ‘what the f—, man? Am I gonna die on this trail?'”

Elliot said at his age he “wondered if [he] was up to the physicality of this thing when [he] started.” Filming 1883 tested his resolve, but he made it out in the end!