Talk of Harrison Ford being knocked off in Taylor Sheridan’s "1923" is a dead issue.
Ford and co-star Helen Mirren, both Academy Award winners, will return as Jacob and Cara Dutton for a second season of "1923," Paramount+ announced last week.
The first season of the Western drama returned after a midseason break with a new episode on Sunday.
The series is set in the early 20th century when a pandemic, historic drought and the end of Prohibition all plague the Mountain West, and the Duttons who call it home. Ford and Mirren play a couple trying to hold on to their massive family ranch.
Fans had speculated online that Ford’s character would be killed off. But four episodes in, Ford, who is 80, is still in the saddle.
In an interview that aired Friday, "Today" co-host Savannah Guthrie told Ford that she would have been mad if they’d killed off his character.
“Well, I would have been mad, too,” Ford said. “I have suffered an ambush, and I would have taken — according to the dialogue — nine bullets, and [it] didn’t kill me.
“And my lovely wife is going to nurse me back to health.”
According to Paramount, the series premiere drew 7.4 million total viewers across Paramount+ and elsewhere.
Ford prepared for "1923" by watching "1883," the first "Yellowstone" prequel. It was the first significant television role for Ford, who’s known for his roles in the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" movies.
Sheridan lassoed Ford into the role when Ford was visiting Fort Worth, Texas, for pilot certification. Sheridan brought Ford to his Silverado ranch near Weatherford, Texas, and talked over the role with the help of two bottles of wine.
“I was there doing some helicopter training in Fort Worth and I had a chance to get to the ranch and sit down and spend an evening with Taylor,” Ford said. “That’s where I heard the story. There was no script, and I met Taylor for the first time. And I got a sense of his ambition for the project.”
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