Aminah Nieves‘ Teonna Rainwater is trying to thrive, not just survive in 1923‘s second season. The actor tells TV Insider that her character is ready to shed the trauma of her past at the residential school and lean into the love she’s found with Pete Plenty Clouds (Jeremy Gauna, who took over the role after the death of Cole Brings Plenty in 2024). She wants to find home in Season 2, but that also requires staying out of reach of the people hunting her down.
Could her road to freedom make her cross paths with the Duttons? Given the connection established between the Dutton and Rainwater families in the Yellowstone series finale (the ranch was protected by a conservation easement and sold to Thomas Rainwater at a fair price), their family history is now more important than ever in this TV universe. Teonna and Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar) will both be in Texas in Season 2 Episode 4, “Journey the Rivers of Iron,” coming out Sunday, March 16 on Paramount+. The episode description says, “Whitfield garners support for his new business venture. Spencer has a run in with the Sheriff in Ft. Worth.” Teonna, Pete, and her father, Runs His Horse (Michael Spears), learned they were in Texas, not Oklahoma like they believed earlier this season. What are the odds the Duttons and the Rainwaters will meet in this timeline?
“In my perfect world, Teonna meets the Duttons. I think that would be such a crazy, epic crossing, oh my God,” Nieves tells TV Insider. She remains coy about the possibility of her and Sklenar’s characters coming face-to-face. “I think it’s coming full circle,” she says. “You’ll see.” Their potential meeting coincides with questions of John Dutton II’s parentage. Will it be Spencer and the pregnant Alexandra (Julia Schlaepfer) whose love births John Dutton III’s (Kevin Costner) father? Or will it be Jack (Darren Mann) and Elizabeth (Michelle Randolph), whose marriage is also being tested this season? Whomever the parents are, their bloodline is destined to be tied to the Rainwater’s forever.
While Teonna and Spencer’s potential meeting is undetermined, the Montana-bound Spencer may meet Jennifer Carpenter’s Mamie Fossett in Episode 4. The Oklahoma Marshal is on the road searching for Teonna after her murder case was brought forward by Montana Marshal Kent (Jamie McShane) and Father Renaud (Sebastian Roché), the head of Teonna’s residential school who’s determined to see her punished for the crimes of killing the nuns who abused her.
Nieves recalls the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it confirmation that Teonna is a Rainwater in Season 1. “If you didn’t catch it, you had to be so sharp and on it, you wouldn’t [notice]. She says she’s Rainwater, but in her language in Season 1, so it’s like it was a little Easter egg.”
“The danger” from Season 1 is still present throughout Season 2, Nieves admits, but thankfully, there’s also “lightness” and “love” in the new episodes. That was shown with the romantic connection between Teonna and Pete in the season’s first installments, and their relationship will continue to develop moving forward as their romance teaches Teonna how to “trust” and “forgive” again, says the star. Teonna is “remembering how to be a real, full-bodied human being” after half a decade of trauma, Nieves adds.
“There’s something so terrifying, trusting love in all aspects. Not just romantic, but also platonic love. There’s something so scary about that,” Nieves explains. “However, [Teonna] is entering the space where she has to remember a lot. She was stripped of so much in this institution, so now she’s remembering how to be a real, full-bodied human being that isn’t attached to everything that has happened to her previously. And she’s learning how to be present and to trust and forgive. So seeing her in this light, rumbling, jumpy newness is so beautiful. This is the first touch she’s ever had that didn’t want harm in the last five or six years. This is the first touch she’s ever had that wanted the best and wanted to protect her. So I think it’s a very special moment to inform you about what’s to come.”
𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 “𝑭𝒂𝒏𝒑𝒂𝒈𝒆 & 𝑾𝒆𝒃𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒆: 𝒇𝙞𝒍𝙢𝒔𝙥𝒐𝙞𝒍𝙚𝒓𝙨.𝙞𝒏𝙛𝒐” 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧-𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐞𝐬.
