The actor says the upcoming season of the “Yellowstone” prequel finally showcases his character’s emotional side.

Spencer Dutton will be a changed man by the end of 1923’s second season.

Brandon Sklenar, who plays the strong-hearted nephew of Harrison Ford’s and Helen Mirren’s Jacob and Cara Dutton, tells Entertainment Weekly that his fiery fighter will undergo a major transformation — both emotionally and physically — by the end of the Yellowstone prequel’s forthcoming season.

“I know people are going to just be over the moon with how [creator Taylor Sheridan] wrote this journey. It’s so beautiful. It’s such a beautiful character arc,” the actor says. “Who we see in episode one and who we see at the end of the second season is an entirely different human being.”

If the first season of 1923 taught us anything, it was that you don’t mess with Spencer Dutton. A war-veteran-turned-big-game-hunter, he chose his battles carefully and emerged victorious every time — whether it was against leopards, rampaging elephants, or his lover Alexandra’s (Julia Schlaepfer) jilted ex-fiancé. Now, Sklenar says that Spencer’s softer side is set to take center stage.

“You really see that throughout this season — his ability to open up and reveal that side to himself — and it’s so cathartic,” he adds. “Without that, he would just sort of fall into this brutish kind of thing. Which is entertaining, but it doesn’t hit on the same emotional soul [or] heart level.”

It was also incredibly rewarding for Sklenar, who notes that he’d been personally looking forward to showcasing a new side of Spencer and taking him to “places that we alluded he may go to” in the previous season.

“I kind of knew he was going to end up there, and I’ve been wanting to do that for a couple years now,” he says. “I finally got to do those scenes and just feel how powerful he is — and how emotional he is — and get to let that out. It was a gift.”

Brandon Sklenar as Spencer and Julia Schlaepfer as Alexandra of the Paramount+ series 1923. Emerson Miller/Paramount+

However, Spencer has a long road ahead of him before he’ll have the time for any big emotional breakthroughs. The end of season 1 saw him heading back home to Montana in order to protect his family and their ranch from poachers attempting to seize their land.

The fear that they might not be alive when he returns — along with the guilt and shame of being forcibly separated from Alexandra — is resting heavy on his shoulders at the outset of season 2.

“He feels a tremendous a weight and responsibility,” Sklenar explains. “And then, you know, it’s like blaming himself. Like, should he never see her again if he doesn’t see his family? Or if, God forsake, something happens to them while he’s on his journey — he just would never forgive himself.”

Sklenar adds that viewers “are not going to be disappointed” by this season’s many twists and turns. “It’s exciting. It’s beautiful and it’s tragic, and it’s full of love and it’s full of obstacles, and it’s ultimately just a profoundly beautiful and poetic season. It really is,” he says. “People are going to love it. I can’t wait.”