Alex Dutton has quite the journey ahead of her in 1923. Not only does she have to cross an ocean in the hopes of reuniting with husband Spencer Dutton in Montana, but the season 2 premiere revealed she’ll be embarking on the journey while pregnant.
In an exclusive interview, Julia Schlaepfer, 29, dished on what kind of challenges the mother-to-be will face en route to Bozeman, where she and Brandon Sklenar’s Spencer were headed before he was taken away for throwing her ex-fiancé Arthur (Rafe Soule) overboard in the season 1 finale. “It’s certainly going to make her journey a lot more difficult,” the actress told Us. “There’s so much more at stake for her being pregnant and knowing that there is a child on the way.”
“If you’re just taking care of yourself [while] moving through the world, you can make choices for yourself that feel right, but now she has a child to take care of,” she explained. “It’s going to be tricky, especially being a pregnant woman in the 1920s alone. That adds a level of intensity to the situation.”
Though the fan-favorite character is known for being brave and fearless, Alex “has to be a lot more careful with how she’s treated and how she takes care of herself along the way,” Schlaepfer continued. “It becomes her ultimate priority to make sure that this child stays alive and that they can all be reunited as a family.”
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It remains to be seen what kind of roadblocks Alex will encounter in the rest of the season, but Schlaepfer believes the former Countess of Sussex will face a reality check during her travels. “She’s lived a very privileged life,” the Politician alum said. “I don’t think that she quite [understands] the dangers that exist in different parts of the world, so there’s a lot of learning.”
Playing the “feisty woman” has been “a dream role” for Schlaepfer. “Alex pounces on everything that she wants and she’s very strong,” she told Us. “She’s been very sheltered, but she is determined, and we see a lot more of that in season 2 as well.”
In real life, Alex has motivated Schlaepfer — who jokes she would also “would run away to Africa with a man that I fell in love with after a day” — to follow her own dreams: The actress moved to Montana after falling in love with the state following Taylor Sheridan’s legendary cowboy camp.
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“I was feeling so inspired by Alex and how she just follows her happiness wherever it leads her,” she explained, noting she was “so happy” working in Big Sky Country. “I [thought], ‘Why wouldn’t I follow that happiness and take a leap?’”
Now, “I live on a ranch in Montana,” she added. “I’m so happy and I never want to leave.”
Season 2 of 1923 airs Sundays on Paramount+.
