American Primeval - Wikipedia

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American Primeval
Promotional poster
Genre	Western
Created by	Mark L. Smith
Written by	Mark L. Smith
Directed by	Peter Berg
Starring	Taylor Kitsch Betty Gilpin Dane DeHaan Saura Lightfoot-Leon Derek Hinkey Joe Tippett Jai Courtney Preston Mota Shawnee Pourier Shea Whigham
Theme music composer	Explosions In The Sky
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	6
Production
Executive producers	Peter Berg Alexander H. Gayner Eric Newman Mark L. Smith
Producers	Tim King Robin Le Chanu
Cinematography	Jacques Jouffret
Running time	36–63 minutes
Production companies	Grand Electric Film 44
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	January 9, 2025

American Primeval is an American Western television miniseries created and written by Mark L. Smith and directed by Peter Berg. Starring Taylor Kitsch and Betty Gilpin, the series is set in 1857 during the Utah War. It was released on January 9, 2025, on Netflix.

Set in 1857 during the Utah War, the series examines the fight to gain control of the American West and the violent clash between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and cultures in the Utah Territory, centering on the events surrounding the Mountain Meadows Massacre.^[1]

• Taylor Kitsch as Isaac Reed/Spotted Hawk, a skilled mountain man raised by the Shoshone, haunted by the loss of his wife and son
• Betty Gilpin as Sara Holloway/Rowell, Devin's mother who is a wanted fugitive for the murder and robbery of her wealthy husband, fleeing to take her son to his father in Crooks Springs^[2]
• Dane DeHaan as Jacob Pratt, a devoted follower of the LDS Church who seeks a better life in Wyoming with his newlywed wife, Abish
• Saura Lightfoot-Leon as Abish Pratt, Jacob's wife and a profound believer in the LDS Church
• Derek Hinkey as Red Feather, a Shoshone warrior and leader of the Wolf Clan, who despises white Americans for their aggression against his people
• Joe Tippett as James Wolsey, the leader of the Mormon militia
• Jai Courtney as Virgil Cutter, a ruthless bounty hunter who leads a group of trappers to find Sara and claim the bounty on her head
• Preston Mota as Devin Rowell, Sara's sensitive young son, who has a physical disability that affects his mobility
• Shawnee Pourier as Two Moons, a mute young Indigenous woman who flees her village, seeking refuge with Sara and Devin
• Shea Whigham as Jim Bridger, the founder and leader of the Fort Bridger trading post

• Lucas Neff as Captain Edmund Dellinger, a U.S. Army officer stationed near Fort Bridger
• Kyle Davis as Tilly, a combative member of Virgil's group
• Tokala Black Elk as Buffalo Run, a proud warrior of the Wolf Clan
• Nick Hargrove as Sammy Cottrell, Bridger's right-hand man
• Dominic Bogart as Frank Cook, a high-ranking member of Mormon militia
• Alex Fine as Gant, a loyal member of Virgil's group
• Kip Weeks as Sergeant-Major Pepper, Dellinger's second-in-command who acts as a spy for the Mormon militia
• Andrew P. Logan as Lucas Cutter, Virgil's younger brother and a local trapper
• Kim Coates as Brigham Young, the first governor of the Utah Territory and the second president of the LDS Church
• Irene Bedard as Winter Bird, Red Feather's mother, Reed's adoptive mother, and the wise matriarch of the Shoshone
• Nanabah Grace as Kuttaambo'i, a fierce female warrior of the Wolf Clan
• Alex Breaux as Wild Bill Hickman, a high-ranking member of the LDS Church
• Jeremiah Bitsui as Grey Fox, a Native American soldier serving under Dellinger
• Mosiah Aaron Crowfoot as Young Elk, Red Feather's son

The six-part series was written by Mark L. Smith and directed by Peter Berg. Berg, via Film 44, and Eric Newman, via Grand Electric, are executive producers. It was commissioned by Netflix in December 2022.^[3] Smith is also an executive producer on the series.^[4]

Berg has said he was inspired to create the series after reading about the Utah War and the Mountain Meadows Massacre and started researching it. The series incorporates real events, such as the massacre depicted in the pilot, along with the stories of actual people who lived during the 1857 Utah War. Real-life characters such as Jim Bridger, a pioneer caught between warring factions; Brigham Young, the leader of the LDS Church who commanded his army known as the Nauvoo Legion; and Wild Bill Hickman, a lawman and a member of this militia, were incorporated. Berg and Smith met with authors of books about the Massacre and visited the massacre site to try to gain as comprehensive an understanding of how that event happened as possible.^[5] Julie O'Keefe served as the show's Indigenous consultant.^[6]

Taylor Kitsch was confirmed in a lead role in late 2022.^[3] In January 2023, Dane DeHaan, Jai Courtney, Betty Gilpin, Shea Whigham, Kyle Davis, Nick Hargrove, Derek Hinkey, Saura Lightfoot-Leon, Preston Mota, Shawnee Pourier and Joe Tippett joined the cast.^[7]

Filming took place in New Mexico from February 2023, with filming interrupted by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.^[8] Kitsch suffered a broken foot during the production.^[3] Filming ran for 130 days of which only two days were on indoor sets. The New Mexico locations used included the small towns of Cochiti Pueblo and Santa Clara Pueblo, sound stages in Santa Fe, and Pajarito Ski Mountain, as well as the Bonanza Creek Ranch in northern New Mexico and the Charles R Ranch near Santa Fe. The set builders used only tools available in the 1800s to construct its version of Fort Bridger.^[3][9]

Explosions in the Sky, the post-rock band that previously worked with Berg on the Friday Night Lights film (2005) and Lone Survivor (2013), composed the series music. Netflix Music has released the series' soundtrack.

The miniseries premiered on Netflix on January 9, 2025.^[10]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, American Primeval has a critic approval rating of 68% based on 53 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Handsomely shot and thoroughly grim, American Primeval drives home its point about a nation's bone-deep savagery to persuasive, and sometimes deadening, effect".^[11] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 59 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[12]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a statement condemning the show for being "dangerously misleading", and said "[as] to the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which the series inaccurately portrays as reflective of a whole faith group, the Church has long acknowledged and condemned this horrific tragedy. It has also taken significant steps to uncover and share the full truth of what happened and promote healing". The statement also denounced the portrayal of Brigham Young as "egregiously mischaracterized", and called for people to be peacemakers.^[13]

• American Primeval on Netflix
• American Primeval at IMDb