Who played Ennis on ‘1883’ and where have we seen him before?

Fans of the Yellowstone prequel series 1883 are pretty fond of Ennis, the amorous, ill-fated cowboy who agreed to help a wagon train hosting the Family Dutton travel northwest across open country. The Duttons settled in Montana, of course, where the family’s exploits are detailed in a sequel series, 1923, followed by the modern-day Yellowstone.

Although something of a minor character, Ennis left a big impact: He was crucial in helping protect the wagon train from bandits, ensuring the legacy of a family so important it requires at least three separate shows to tell their story.

We meet Ennis in the pilot of 1883, where he takes on the task of protecting a host of inexperienced men, women, and children traveling from Tennessee to Oregon. Once the Duttons join the wagon train, Ennis is immediately smitten with Elsa Dutton (Isabel May). The feeling is mutual, much to the chagrin of her father, James Dutton (Tim McGraw).

However, James eventually comes around and gives the courtship his blessing, until Ennis and Elsa rush into having sex one night. One not-so-helpful traveler in the company tells Ennis that “the whole camp could hear” them, and Father Dutton attempts fisticuffs with the young man before Elsa expresses her love for him, as well as his intention to marry her.

Unfortunately, halfway through 1883‘s single season, Ennis takes a bullet to the heart (subtle) while defending the wagon train from bandits, and his and Elsa’s love story becomes just another tragedy that helps build the Dutton Family legend.

Who played Ennis?

Ennis was played by actor Eric Nelson, who as of June 26, is 32 years of age. Even at such a young age, Nelson has had a long, successful career in TV and film. He appeared in early episodes of iCarly and The Good Wife, but things really started rolling when he worked for seven years on the American crime drama The Bay.

He later booked gigs on Blue Bloods, Girls, The Following, and The Blacklist. He also did a 32-episode stint on All My Children, where he presumably found many reasons to be shirtless. Before 1883, Nelson played a pivotal role in season 4 of Showtime’s The Affair.

Regarding his film work, Nelson starred opposite Liam Neeson in 2014’s A Walk Among the Tombstones, shared the screen with Chris Copper in 2015’s Coming Through the Rye, and in 2018 starred alongside Mickey Rourke in Nightmare Cinema. We salute Nelson for giving us a nice foundational trauma to build on whenever we watch the Dutton’s modern-day scheming in Yellowstone.