SPOILER ALERT! This story contains plot points from episode seven of 1923 on Paramount+. Anyone who tuned in to Taylor Sheridan’s latest Yellowstone prequel expecting wall-to-wall storytelling about the Dutton family was in for a shock: half of the story has been devoted to the horrific treatment of young indigenous women in a boarding school run by Catholic nuns and a very sadistic priest.
One of those girls is played by Aminah Nieves, an indigenous actress who landed the very important role of Teonna Rainwater — a veritable prisoner of the Catholics (and ancestor of Gil Birmingham’s Thomas Rainwater, who we eventually meet in Yellowstone) who can dish it out as much as she can take it.
Teonna finally escapes the clutches of her captors but trouble continues to follow her. Here, Nieves talks affectionately about meeting Taylor “Tay Tay” Sheridan and how important it was for her to accept the role.
DEADLINE This has definitely been a lesson in history for some, learning how indigenous people were treated by the colonizing Catholic Church.
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