The end of ‘1883’ season 1: Is Elsa dead? Tim McGraw Interview

During the season, 1883 hasn’t wavered from one of its biggest themes: the harsh and unforgiving Oregon Trail, and it doesn’t care who kicks buckets along its rutted path.

But the unlucky heroine Elsa Dutton is will beat the odds, heal from a nasty arrow into her liver and live… right? It’s correct?!

Ahead of Paramount+’s Season 1 finale on Sunday, TVLine reached out to the country star Tim McGraw, who plays James, the patriarch of Dutton, for solace. (Though we’re not really sure why, given that in last week’s episode, James had this to say about his injured teenage daughter: “She’s been the light of my life, and she’s the light of the day.” she is my soul. She will die.”)

McGraw muses that James is carrying a lot of guilt in placing his family – his wife Margaret (played by country music star / McGraw’s real-life wife Faith Hill), son John (Audie Rick) and Elsa (Isabel) May) – through an exhausting trip, all for the promise of a better life in the West.

“I think James doubts it every day and every moment,” he said. He recalled at one point in the middle of the season when he discussed the character’s doubts with series creator Taylor Sheridan. “I said, ‘You know, I can’t imagine a scenario where James sleeps through this whole show. With all the decisions he had to make, all the worries he had, all the doubts. ”

Those who have watched the season from the beginning know that the ride is off to a bad start in the premiere, before the Duttons train left Fort Worth, Texas. Still, “I don’t think Dutton’s genetics can be turned around and stopped,” says McGraw. “Definitely every day there is doubt about what he has put his family in, and you read that in his eyes a lot when things are going badly… He is a tough guy, but he cares a lot about everyone on that outing. He may not show it, but you can see by his actions that he has put his life first for everyone, constantly. ”

And for the most part, that sacrifice has kept the James family at peace. And at the end of the season’s penultimate episode, Elsa was back on her horse – that must be a good sign, right? So even though he’s a realist, can James harbor some hope that Elsa will beat the odds and survive the wounds inflicted by her administration?

McGraw chuckled. “I don’t think he has any hope at all,” he said.

What Friend think, 1883 viewers? Record your finale predictions in the comments below!