This story contains spoilers for 1923 episode 6.
“They’re gonna hate me now,” Brian Konowal tells me. The 1923 actor plays Clyde, a Scottish shepherd who shocks audiences in episode 6 when he guns down the young Jack Dutton (Darren Mann). As I remarked in my recap of the episode, it’s the most dramatic jump I’ve ever seen of a TV character vaulting from background player to public enemy number one. Thanks to Konowal’s performance, audiences certainly won’t underestimate Clyde now.
“All credit to Taylor [Sheridan],” Konowal says over Zoom, “but when I read it, I was like, Ooh boy, Clyde’s not sitting on the fence anymore. I’m all in.”
Clyde first appeared in season 1, episode 3, when Cara Dutton (Helen Mirren) hires more Livestock Commission agents because Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford) is bedridden. Clyde spins a story to the duo about how he’s a former Chicago cop who is just looking for a job. Little do they know, he’s sent by the villainous Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) and Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn) to spy on the Dutton family. Jack is even standing right behind him in the scene. “That’s what’s so great about Taylor, just his storytelling and his foreshadowing,” Konowal says. “He kills this character that everyone loves. You just never know.”
In another timeline, the kindhearted Duttons may have convinced Clyde to switch sides and take up their cause. I can’t say that Sheridan gave Konowal much scenery to chew on that would sway the viewer one way or the other. But in season 2, it’s clearer than ever before that Clyde is walking down a dark path. “Hopefully Darren doesn’t hate me,” he says. “I know Jack does.”
As the story goes, Konowal sent in audition tapes to work on both Yellowstone and 1883 before he was finally given the green light to play Clyde in 1923. “I was a huge fan of Taylor’s from Sicario, so even before Yellowstone I wanted to work with him, and I know I’m not the only one,” Konowal recalls. “Plus, I loved Jerome Flynn on Game of Thrones.”
So it’s possible that Konowal’s impeccable Scottish accent work eventually pulled him through. “If you look like me, you have to have a Scottish accent, an Irish accent, and a Leprechaun accent ready to go,” Konowal jokes. After we both discuss growing up near Philadelphia, it’s clear he has quite the Delco accent as well. If I close my eyes, Konowal sounds like my distant cousin prepping for a weekend down at the shore. Now it’s a dream come true for him to work on one of Taylor Sheridan’s many TV shows for Paramount, even if his character is now a walking nightmare for Dutton fans.
Though he swears the Yellowstone creator runs a tight ship, Konowal ended up working more with director Ben Richardson during his time on set. Most of what they need is written down in his scripts, he says. For everything else, Sheridan trusts Richardson. Richardson has worked with Sheridan ever since 2017’s Wind River.In fact, Richardson even had some notes for Konowal before he filmed the scene in which he kills Jack Dutton.
“He told me to play it subtle,” Konowal recalls. “I did a take, and he said, ‘More subtle … like a cold killer.’ ” You don’t want the audience to expect a single thing until the gunshot rings, and that’s exactly how the scene plays out.
Clyde is riding in the woods when Jack mistakes him and his partner for fellow Livestock Commission agents. The Yellowstone rancher boasts that the Dutton family will finally have some help once Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) arrives—even though he’s “a close second” when it comes to gunfighters in the family. Suddenly, Clyde fires away. “If you’re a close second, I’m not much worried about the first,” he says over Jack’s dead body. A cold killer indeed.
Nowadays, TV has a way of convincing you that a character isn’t gone for good until you see the body for yourself. That’s why Clyde shoots Jack with his pistol for a second time. “Just to make sure he stays dead,” Konowal jokes as he walks me through the scene. Then Clyde ties Jack up and leaves him to rot. Next on his hit list? Spencer, Zane, and poor old Jacob and Cara.
If you can believe it, there’s even more exciting drama ahead for the finale. Spencer has yet to arrive in Montana. Meanwhile, Alexandra (Julia Schlaepfer) remains stranded in a blizzard, and John Dutton’s (Kevin Costner) parentage remains up in the air. “Fans should be ready for some revelations that no one expects,” Konowal teases. “I’ll say that.” Hell, if anyone knows how to keep a secret, it’s certainly the man who killed Jack Dutton.