Does the ‘1883’ Cast Look Familiar? Here’s Where You’ve Seen Them Before

• Character in 1883: James Dutton, the protagonist of the series who is a former Confederate soldier who strikes out to settle land in Oregon with his wife and two children
• First appears in: Episode 1, “1883”
• What else he’s been in: The bestselling country music artist has co-starred in the classic football drama Friday Night Lights, Country Strong with Gwyneth Paltrow and The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock

• Character in 1883: Margaret Dutton, James’s wife and mother to their two children, is a skilled horsewoman who is her husband’s partner in their Westward homesteading.
• First appears in: Episode 1, “1883”
• What else she’s been in: The bestselling country artist first acted in 1997’s TV hit Touched by an Angel, then went on to costar in the 2002 war drama We Were Soldiers, the 2004 film The Stepford Wives alongside Nicole Kidman and 2015 crime drama Dixieland with Riley Keogh. She has been married to her 1883 costar Tim McGraw since 1996 and they have three children together.

• Character in 1883: Elsa Dutton is the teenage tomboy daughter of James and Margaret Dutton who narrates the series. She is an able rider, identifies as a cowboy and has romances with a cowboy and a Comanche in the span of the show’s 10 episodes.
• First appears in: Episode 1, “1883”
• What else she’s been in: May co-starred in the Alexa & Katie series on Netflix and had a recurring role as Veronica Duncan on CBS’s Young Sheldon. She starred as Zoe Hull in the film Run Hide Fight.

• Character in 1883: Shea, a former Union soldier who suffers PTSD and who serves as a guide for a Westward wagon train. A tragic figure, he lost his family in an outbreak of smallpox.
• First appears in: Episode 1, “1883”
• What else he’s been in: The distinctively deep-voiced actor was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his role in 2018’s A Star is Born; his most recent TV roles include Phil Millstein in Grace and Frankie, a series regular role on The Ranch and as a guest star on TV’s Justified.

• Character in 1883: Thomas is a former enslaved man who became a soldier in the Union Army under command of Capt. Shea Brennan. Post-war, he aids Brennan in guiding a wagon train to Oregon, starting a romance with the widowed Noemi along the way.
• First appears in: Episode 1, “1883”
• What else he’s been in: Garrett portrayed Deputy Sheriff Cane in Sons of Anarchy, costarred as Mike Ritter in Designated Survivor and is Tucker in Special Ops: Lioness with Nicole Kidman.

• Character in 1883: Josef is a European immigrant who, along with his wife, joins a wagon train to settle westward toward Oregon. He is the only European in the group that speaks English, so he a acts as a translator.
• First appears in: Episode 1, “1883”
• What else he’s been in: Rissmann portrayed Harry Strickland in the eighth season of Game of Thrones and Wilhelm Goertzmann in season four of The Man in the High Castle.

• Character in 1883: Marshal Courtright is the sharp-shooting, tough-talking sheriff of Fort Worth, Texas who aids the wagon train crew after they have been attacked by bandits. The character is based on the real-life “Longhair Jim” American Deputy Sheriff of the town from 1876 to 1879.
• First appears in: Episode 2, “Behind Us, A Cliff”
• What else he’s been in: First achieving fame in 1996 by winning an Academy Award for his adapted screenplay of Sling Blade, the whiskey-voiced actor has starred in many films and television shows, most recently Goliath on Amazon, and Season one of Fargo on FX.

• Character in 1883: Ennis is an attractive and playful cowboy who assists the Oregon-bound wagon train and romances Elsa Dutton.
• First appears in: Episode 2, “Behind Us, A Cliff”
• What else he’s been in: Nelsen was a series regular in All My Children on Hulu, and had a a recurring role in The Affair on Showtime, He’s also appeared in The Blacklist, Girls,The Following, NCIS, Blue Bloods and iCarly.

• Character in 1883: Noemi is a member of the wagon train who is left alone to raise her two young sons after her husband is killed. She turns to Thomas for help on the journey.
• First appears in: Episode 1, “1883”
• What else she’s been in: A theatre actress with the Los Angeles-based The Actors’ Gang Theatre Ensemble, Brancusi acted in the second season of The Mayor of Kingstown.

• Character in 1883: General George Meade is the triumphant leader of the Union forces fighting at Antietam, a bloody battle in which James Dutton loses many of his group.
• First appears in: Episode 2, “Behind Us, A Cliff”
• What else he’s been in: Tom Hanks won back-to-back Academy Awards for Best Actor in the 1990s (for Philadelphia and Forest Gump) and is a rare talent with the chops to please audiences in both comedies (such as 1984’s Splash and 1992’s A League of Their Own) and drama. Most recently, he appeared as Col. Tom Parker in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis and in Wes Andersen’s Asteroid City.

11. Rita Wilson (Carolyn)

• Character in 1883: Carolyn, a shopkeeper at Doan's Crossing, at the border of Texas and Oklahoma,  befriends and shares whiskey with Margaret when he visits her store.
• First appears in: Episode 6, “Boring the Devil”
• What else she’s been in: The singer-actress has had a full career as an actor in films and television and as a recording artist. Most recently, she appeared in Wes Andersen’s Asteroid City along with her husband in real life, Tom Hanks.

• Character in 1883: Sam is a Comanche warrior who befriends Elsa.
• First appears in: Episode 7, “Lightning Yellow Hair”
• What else he’s been in: You’ll recognize Sensmeier from Season 2 of Yellowstone, in which he had a recurring role as Monica’s physical therapist, Martin. He also has a recurring role over two seasons of Westworld.

• Character in 1883: Spotted Eagle is a Crow elder who sights the Westward wagon train and tells James Dutton about Paradise Valley in Montana, where the Duttons will eventually settle.
• First appears in: Episode 10, “This is Not Your Heaven”
• What else he’s been in: Greene has starred in A & E Drama Longmire as well as Lonesome Dove: The Series.