AARP The Magazine is giving us an early Christmas present with a stunning cover story on Helen Mirren’s return to television with “1923”. The full article can be read on their website. An excerpt can be found below, alongside a fantastic video interview from the shoot. It’s the tail end of a sun-sparkled afternoon in Butte, Montana, and here I am in a windowless basement bar with — if you’ll excuse the expression — this dame I met a few minutes before. I was standing on the street outside the Miner’s Hotel, minding my own, when she pulled up in her car, looking a bit tiny behind the wheel. Then she whipped into this swift, effortless U-turn, settling without a hitch, nice and tight to the sidewalk. Oddly impressive. She pretty much jumped out of the car, and she seemed just a shade invigorated. “It’s extraordinary!” she told me later. “There’s no traffic! You can do a U-turn here in the middle of the road.” This dame, her name is Helen. Dame Helen Mirren. We shook hands right there on the street.

It’s still some weeks until the Merry season, but Helen Mirren turns out to be a fitting testimonial for this year’s Christmas themed magazine covers. Both the British Woman’s Weekly and the Australian Mindfood have put Mirren on their Christmas covers. There’s also a new cover from the Hungarian Nok Lapjá and and article in the British Woman & Home (with many thanks to Joan for the contribution). Enjoy the new additions.

The teaser trailer for the new “Yellowstone” prequel “1923,” starring Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford, is here. The new original drama series is another “Yellowstone” origin story from Paramount+ centered around a new generation of Duttons. In the upcoming series, the family is led by patriarch Jacob Dutton (Ford) and his wife Cara Dutton (Mirren). Jacob is the brother of James Dutton, Tim McGraw’s “1883” character. In the teaser trailer, a voiceover states, “Violence has always haunted this family. It followed us from the Scottish Highlands to the slums of Dublin, and it followed us here. Where it doesn’t follow, we hunt it down. We seek it.” The series “will explore the early 20th century when pandemics, historic drought, the end of Prohibition and the Great Depression all plague the Mountain West and the Duttons who call it home,” according to a press release.

In a series of pictures posted by Vanity Fair, the pair unveil their new series set at the Dutton ranch a century ago. In times of overwhelming change, tradition can be vital for survival. Knowing how things were done before, understanding what still works, and discarding what doesn’t can be a crucial part of moving forward. This is what brings Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren’s longtime frontier couple to the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch in the upcoming series 1923. Tradition—and unstoppable change. Set a century before Kevin Costner’s John Dutton III holds together his family’s sprawling Montana empire in America’s most popular TV show, the contemporary Yellowstone series, this latest spin-off from creator Taylor Sheridan explores what life was like for the second and third generation of Duttons to work that land. They find themselves turning back to the first generation for guidance. A lot has changed in the 40 years since James and Margaret Dutton (played by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in the predecessor series, 1883) brought their family to this territory. Exactly what became of them by the time of 1923 is a mystery the show will reveal, but suffice to say their children, now in their late 30s and 40s, and grandchildren, now in their 20s, have come to rely on a new matriarch and patriarch as they confront the rise of mechanization, the growth of local government, and competition for resources from other ranchers. Their father’s brother, Jacob Dutton (Ford), and his wife, Cara (Mirren), now lead the family. The complete article can be read over at Vanity Fair. Helen’s promotional images can be found in the photo gallery.

Helen Mirren made an appearance at The American French Film Festival outside Paris on Wednesday evening, showing up to its annual awards ceremony with husband Taylor Hackford. Pictures from the ceremony have been added to the photo gallery.