Taylor Sheridan fans know not to expect a happy ending. From John Dutton’s death in Yellowstone to the tear-jerking ending of 1883, it’s a tough road for the Dutton family. Still, viewers have held out hope that Alex and Spencer Dutton would find their happily-ever-after on 1923. After all, the couple spent the entire season and faced serious adversity on their journey to find each other.

*Spoiler Alert* If you haven’t watched the finale, turn back now.

Now that the series (yes, series) finale has aired, it’s clear that happiness is not in the cards for Spencer and Alex. They reunite in the finale but Alex is suffering from frostbite, and, after giving birth to their son, succumbs to her injuries.

The official 1923 account shared a preview of the two-hour-long finale on Instagram with the caption, “The day has finally arrived! The explosive, two-hour finale event is now streaming on @paramountplus. #1923TV #ParamountPlus.”

Fans ran to the comments section to express their distress:

“It really left me heartbroken.”
“We waited all season for them to be reunited & then you kill Alex off? WTF.”
“The whole story about Alex and Spenser why would you ruined it like that !!! The ending was not expected.”

“You put Alex and Spencer through hell and back for what?! You could have saved times and make just episode. It was painful and heartbreaking. No need for all this, it was so unfair. You wasted the possibility of having an amazing serie… 1923 had so so much potential. The first serie was incredible and then you have decided to ruin everything.”

“My heart has been ripped from my chest this morning. I couldn’t be more devastated by this ending if I tried.”
“I am CRUSHED.”
“Writing Taylor Sheridan hate mail for what he did to the ending of this show 😤”
Of course, not everyone agreed with this assessment. Some fans called the series a “masterpiece.” One wrote, “This series has been so incredible. The finale episode was so amazing I felt every second of it. 😍” Another said, “Think this is my favourite out of all the others 😍.” One fan said, “SPECTACULAR, What a Finale, I Watched it twice already

The finale does answer one important question about the Dutton family tree: Spencer and Alex’s baby is John Dutton II, making them the grandparents of the John Dutton III portrayed by Kevin Costner.

And, with that, the 1923 story has come to an end. Unless something changes in Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone universe, the story will pick up again with the next spinoff, 1944. No details about that installment of the Duttons’ story have been released.

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Katie Bowlby is Digital Director at Country Living, where she covers pop culture news including country music, Yellowstone, and all things HGTV, plus gift guides and product reviews. She has been with Country Living for more than 11 years. Before that, she worked for Southern Living. The Indiana University grad also stitches up the cross-stitch pattern for every issue of the magazine.