Brandon Sklenar & Julia Schlaepfer Are Still Heartbroken Over That ‘1923’ Finale

The season 2 finale of 1923 left fans heartbroken — and the stars of the show are feeling it too. Brandon Sklenar and Julia Schlaepfer, who play Spencer and Alex, are still trying to process everything that happened in the dramatic final episode.

“I was anticipating something epic and brutally tragic, and it did not disappoint,” Sklenar told Entertainment Weekly. “That guy [creator Taylor Sheridan]. That guy is a pretty good writer, and the first time it just brought tears in my eyes, reading that episode. I mean, I could read it right now and it would break me down.“

Throughout season 2, Spencer and Alex were both fighting to reunite. Spencer was headed home to Montana to protect the Dutton ranch, and Alex was traveling across the ocean to find him after they were separated at the end of season 1. They went through so much—storms, dangers, heartbreak—and in the end, it all led to one emotional scene.

Alex, stuck in a snowstorm, lights a car on fire to get attention. Spencer sees her from a train and jumps off to save her. The two finally run into each other’s arms in a long-awaited reunion.

Julia Schlaepfer shared that filming that moment was special. “That was the first scene that Brandon and I shot together in season 2. It was our reunion as actors as well,” she said. “After such a grueling season, at least for me personally, I think everyone was super just teary-eyed that day.”

Sklenar felt the emotion deeply, too. “Just that sort of standing there in silence, looking at each other, and just seeing the last two-and-a-half years fly past your face. It was a trip,” he said.

Things seemed to be looking up, especially when Alex tells Spencer she’s pregnant. But then, tragedy strikes again. Alex is suffering from hypothermia. Her arms and legs are damaged, and doctors say they must be removed. They also say the pregnancy can’t continue.

Alex chooses not to go through surgery. Instead, she decides to spend her last moments with Spencer and their newborn son, John Dutton II.

Schlaepfer said filming Alex’s final moments was incredibly emotional. “I was laying in a hospital bed all bandaged up, Spencer’s at my bedside, Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford are there [in the waiting room], and I have this fake baby in my arms,” she said. “You feel everything that you have ever felt in the span of these two-and-a-half years with these characters at once. And you just have to let it take you away. It’s so heartbreaking and so surreal.”

Sklenar also had a hard time saying goodbye to Spencer. He shared that Spencer later dies at Alex’s grave, after living a long life on the Dutton ranch. “It’s a lot to process. I still very much feel it,” he said. “I’ll be processing it for a long time, and I’m always going to be Spencer Dutton for the rest of my life.”

Both actors said these roles changed them. “It’s such a special thing to be a part of something that’s culturally significant like that,” Sklenar said. “And, yeah, it’s super f—ing sad to not be able to do it again.”

Even though it was heartbreaking, Sklenar found beauty in how the story ended. He said the ending, which shows Spencer and Alex reunited in heaven, was “kind of perfect.”

Schlaepfer feels the same way. “It’s so emotional, but also I’m so grateful to have been given the gift of such an epic story,” she said. “They’re a love story for the ages, and it was just such an honor to get to tell it.”

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!