'1923' Season 2 Premiere Pays Tribute to Late Actor Cole Brings Plenty with Heartfelt Dedication

They recast him. End of story.

I mean, sure, it's sad he's gone, but the show just threw his character under the bus by recasting him like it was nothing. This isn't Game of Thrones where you can just swap actors and no one notices. Pete was more than a role-he had soul. Now it's just... performative. And don't even get me started on how they handled the whole missing person thing. They could've at least waited a season to do this.

It feels exploitative. Like they're cashing in on grief while pretending to honor it. The sepia slideshow? Cute. But it's a band-aid on a gunshot wound. They knew what they were doing. They knew the optics. And they did it anyway.

I’m just glad they didn’t kill off Pete like some shows do when an actor dies. That would’ve been a slap in the face. Jeremy Gauna? Dude’s got the energy. He’s not trying to be Cole-he’s honoring him by being himself. And honestly? Teonna’s arc needed someone who could match her fire. Cole was quiet, but Gauna brings the storm. I’m all in. 🙌

The decision to recast Pete Plenty Clouds with Jeremy Gauna represents a thoughtful and ethically grounded approach to narrative continuity in the face of tragic loss. By retaining the character’s narrative function while introducing a performer who has previously inhabited the same fictional universe, the production team demonstrates both respect for the deceased actor and fidelity to the story’s integrity. This is not merely a casting change-it is an act of cultural stewardship.

I think this is the right call. Cole was a gift to this show, and his spirit lives on through the character. Jeremy Gauna? He’s got the same quiet strength. I saw him in 1883-he’s got that look in his eyes, the one that says he’s carrying the weight of his people. Teonna’s grief? It’s real. And now it’s layered with something new. It’s not the same, but it’s still true.

I appreciate the care the writers took here. Recasting a role after an actor’s death is incredibly delicate. They could’ve written him out, but instead, they chose to honor his legacy by continuing the story-something Cole himself would’ve wanted. The tribute was quiet, dignified, and real. And Gauna? He’s not replacing anyone. He’s carrying the torch. That’s not easy to do.

Okay but did anyone else notice how the slideshow was exactly 37 seconds long? That’s not random. That’s the exact time it took for the Kansas police to find his body. Someone on set did the math. And now they’re using his death as a marketing tool. I’m not crying, you’re crying.

There’s a strange poetry in how this show handles death. Not the kind you see in obituaries or tribute reels. The kind that lingers in the silence between lines of dialogue. Cole’s absence isn’t just a casting note-it’s a ghost in the script now. Gauna isn’t playing Pete. He’s playing the echo of Pete. And that’s why it works. We don’t need to see the man. We need to feel the shape he left behind. The land remembers. The story remembers. And maybe, just maybe, the audience will too.

Oh please. This isn't art-it’s a corporate PR stunt wrapped in sepia tones and Indigenous trauma porn. They didn’t ‘honor’ him-they monetized his demise. The fact that they brought back Gauna from 1883? That’s not continuity, that’s lazy franchise recycling. And Aminah Nieves calling him her ‘brother’? How convenient. Now she gets to milk the tears while the network rakes in ad revenue. This isn’t grief. It’s performance.

The Western genre has always been a tool of cultural erasure. Now, even the death of an Indigenous actor is being co-opted to sustain a narrative that has never truly centered Native voices. Recasting is not tribute-it is colonization of memory. The showrunners are not healers. They are curators of pain for consumption. This is not art. This is exploitation dressed as homage.

I’ve been watching 1923 since day one, and I gotta say-this season feels different. Not just because of the tribute, but because the writing seems to lean into the weight of loss. Pete’s quiet strength was never about big speeches. It was in the way he’d just sit there, listening, letting the silence speak. Gauna’s got that same stillness. And Aminah’s performance? She’s not acting grief-she’s living it. The show didn’t just recast an actor. It recast a heartbeat.

I’m really moved by how they handled this. It’s rare to see a show do this with so much care. I know some people are upset about the recasting, but I think they’re giving Cole’s character the dignity he deserves-not by pretending he never left, but by letting someone else carry his story forward. It’s like when you lose someone and you keep their favorite mug out on the counter. Not to replace them… but to remember them every day.

You people are so soft. You cry over a slideshow but don’t even know who Cole was outside of the show. Did you even look up his family? Did you care about the real person behind the character? Or are you just here to feel morally superior by posting about ‘honoring’ him? This isn’t tribute-it’s virtue signaling with a budget.

The narrative continuity strategy employed by the production team constitutes a pragmatic and semiotically coherent response to the ontological disruption caused by the untimely passing of a principal cast member. The selection of Jeremy Gauna-having previously inhabited the same diegetic universe as Pete Plenty Clouds-establishes a metatextual bridge that mitigates audience dissonance. This is not mere recasting; it is narrative recalibration within a mythic framework.

I just watched the premiere and I’m so upset. I kept thinking about how Cole was just here last year and now he’s gone and I can’t believe it. I didn’t even know he was struggling. I feel like I failed him. I should’ve reached out. I should’ve said something. I just… I just want to cry. I miss him so much already. I don’t even care about the show anymore. I just want him back.