Sklenar tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue that his character “became such a part of me” over the three years he filmed the ‘Yellowstone’ prequel series

Brandon Sklenar at 2025 Vanity Fair Oscars Party; brandon Sklenar in ‘1923’. Credit :Virisa Yong/BFA.com/Shutterstock; Lo Smith/Paramount+

There will always be a piece of Spencer Dutton with Brandon Sklenar — literally.

The actor, 34, who played the World War I vet turned game hunter turned rancher in the Yellowstone prequel series 1923, is full of emotion as he bids farewell to the character and the show — but he tells PEOPLE he has quite a few keepsakes to ease the sting.

“I have his hat. I have his passport, which is very cool. It’s like very real, like a 1920s passport,” Sklenar says, revealing what he swiped from the Paramount+ series’ set before filming wrapped on its second and final season.

“And I have some bullet shells, some casings from World War I. I got some patches from his uniform. I got a little Spencer Dutton collection for sure.”

Spencer’s hat, which he wore often throughout the show, was always going be something he took with him, he says. “Yeah. I was taking his hat for sure.”

Brandon Skelnar in ‘1923’. Trae Patton/ Paramount+

Even with his “collection,” Sklenar says he’s “still sort of processing” that 1923 has ended after spending nearly three years in Spencer’s world.

“Between the first season and the second season, it was two years. So it was a lot of hurry up and wait and wondering when we’re going to go and sort of having it always in the back of your mind,” he says.

“That character became such a part of me, and it will be for the rest of my life,” he adds. “And I just miss playing in that world because it’s just such a cool world to play in and those themes and getting to be a cowboy and also a World War I veteran, and a hunter and a fighter, and someone who just does it all for the love of their family and their wife. It’s just the most epic character.”

He’ll also miss Julia Schlaepfer, who was by his side for all of it as his onscreen wife Alexandra.

“With Jules, we didn’t chemistry read or anything, and [creator] Taylor [Sheridan], he’s such an intuitive guy. He really is. He writes intuitively and he feels these things, and he clearly felt like — he knew that we would get on just by spending time with us individually. And we did. We had incredible chemistry from the jump, and it was so easy to work together and to fall into it.”

Sklenar continues, “I think a lot of that back and forth that’s on the page that Spencer and Alexandra have — that sort of banter and that shorthand — Julia and I just had that together as people. And that’s not something you can like… If you don’t have that and you do those scenes, it’s not going to hit the same way.”

“I’ll miss that for sure, having that type of scene partner and that type of work partner to play with in that space.

The 1923 series finale is now streaming on Paramount+.