Julia Schlaepfer says filming Alex’s Ellis Island medical inspection for 1923 took about eight hours—and was harder to separate from her own experience than she expected. The scene is scripted drama in season 2, episode 3; historical context supports the broad reality of medical screening at Ellis Island, not every event shown on screen.
What Julia Schlaepfer said about filming the scene
In a PEOPLE interview republished by Yahoo Entertainment on March 9, 2025, Schlaepfer described the sequence as physically and emotionally demanding. She said, “It was a lot more challenging for me.” The scene took about eight hours to film, and she found it more difficult than expected to keep Alex’s experience separate from her own.
Schlaepfer also described support from an intimacy coordinator on set and the physical and emotional residue of filming. She explained: “My body doesn’t know the difference. I know that I’m acting, but my body doesn’t.” She was describing her experience of performing the scene, not making a clinical claim.
What happens to Alex in the episode
Schlaepfer plays Alex in 1923. In season 2, episode 3, the pregnant character arrives at Ellis Island and undergoes invasive examinations. Those events belong to the show’s fictional story; Alex is not a documented historical immigrant, and the interview does not establish that the scene reproduces one person’s recorded experience.
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![1923: A Yellowston Origin Story: Season Two [DVD]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61XZ8vKfxgL._SL160_.jpg)
- Genre: TV Drama
- Number of Discs: 3
- Number of Tracks: 0
- Playback Duration: 456
- Rating: NR
What historical sources say about Ellis Island inspections
The New-York Historical Society’s Women & the American Story resource describes legal and medical reviews for third-class passengers at Ellis Island and says pregnant women faced additional medical screenings. It says the inspection process could take up to seven hours. That is a possible duration for the historical process—not the length of Schlaepfer’s filming day, nor a claim that every immigrant experienced the same examination.
The resource also describes gendered risks faced by women arriving at the island. A woman traveling without a male escort could be detained until she showed she could support herself; a woman accompanied by an unrelated man could face suspicion of prostitution. These details give context to the unequal scrutiny women could encounter, but they do not independently verify every action in 1923.
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- 1923: A Yellowstone Origin Story: Season One and Two, Complete Box Set, DVD Disc Collection
The same resource estimates that about 20 percent of people who passed through Ellis Island were temporarily detained. It also gives totals of about 120,000 people sent back to their country of origin and 3,500 who died during detention. The page does not specify the exact period covered by those totals, so they should not be read as figures for a particular year or generalized to all immigrants entering the United States. Read the New-York Historical Society’s account of Ellis Island.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where to watch 1923
The interview said the first three episodes of season 2 were streaming on Paramount+ when it appeared on March 9, 2025. That dated listing does not confirm the show’s current availability or availability in every region; check Paramount+ in your location for the latest catalog information.
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- 1883 & 1923: A Yellowstone Origin Complete DVD Disc Collection (Bonus Content Included)
Rank #4
![1923 - A Yellowstone Origin Story: Season Two [DVD]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51rARI9eCvL._SL160_.jpg)
- 1923: A Yellowstone Origin Story
- Season Two
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- 1923: A Yellowstone Origin Story
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