The season 2 premiere of 1923 kicked off with a special dedication to one of their own.
The long-awaited episode began with a tribute to Cole Brings Plenty, who starred in the first season as Pete Plenty Clouds, and was found dead in April days after he was declared missing. A photo of the actor, who was 27, was shown along with an “In Memoriam” message as the episode started.
Later on in the show, his character’s fate was revealed: Pete was recast and will be played by Jeremy Guana for season 2.
Pete is the son of Hank Plenty Clouds (Michael Greyeyes), who found Teonna (Aminah Nieves) after she ran away from the reservation school, and helped her reunite with her father, Runs His Horse (Michael Spears).
Guana previously starred in another Yellowstone spinoff, 1883, which is the prequel series that directly preceded 1923, and saw the Dutton family, led by Elsa (Isabel May), Margaret (Faith Hill) and James (Tim McGraw) flee Texas for Montana.
Cole, who is the nephew of Yellowstone star Mo Brings Plenty, was reported missing in Lawrence, Kansas on April 2. Hours later, he was named a suspect in an incident involving domestic violence allegations.
Per police, authorities had responded to reports of a woman screaming for help in an apartment, and Cole was identified as a suspect in the investigation. He was then spotted on traffic cameras leaving the city.
Before he was named a suspect, his uncle Mo, 55, shared a missing person poster and said that the actor had missed an appointment with his agent for a TV show, which was “uncharacteristic” and raised alarm.
Three days after he was reported missing, he was found dead. Police said in a press release at the time that he was discovered in a rural area of Kansas after they received reports about an unoccupied car.