Is American Primeval a True Story? Behind the Scenes of the Frontier Show.
American Primeval is a gripping limited series that explores the intersections of culture, religion, and community during the tumultuous events of 1857, highlighting the violent confrontations among Native Americans, settlers, Mormon soldiers, and the US government.
Executive producer Pete Berg and Taylor Kitsch as Isaac
Matt Kennedy/Netflix
The series was inspired by a story Berg discovered in 2020 about the Utah War. “I came across an article about the Mountain Meadows Massacre,” Berg shared with Netflix. “It piqued my interest, leading me to conduct extensive research on the topic.” Directed and produced by Pete Berg, with Mark L. Smith as writer and executive producer alongside Eric Newman, the series is currently available for streaming on Netflix.
It features a talented cast including Taylor Kitsch, Betty Gilpin, Kim Coates, Shea Whigham, Saura Lightfoot-Leon, and Shawnee Pourier. Berg collaborated with Smith, known for his work on The Revenant, to develop a raw and authentic narrative set against the backdrop of the American frontier. Interestingly, Smith had already laid the groundwork for the show while researching pioneer Jim Bridger, a character he wrote about in a pilot back in 2016.
Irene Bedard as Winter Bird
Matt Kennedy/Netflix
“I gained a deeper understanding of his character,” Smith explained to Netflix. “I was eager to delve into it further, and this project provided the perfect chance.” The narrative of American Primeval unfolds at Fort Bridger, featuring the legendary mountain man 50 years after the events depicted in The Revenant, leading to a rich historical tapestry. Curious about the accuracy of American Primeval? Let’s explore the real-life events that inspired the series.
Which characters in American Primeval are inspired by actual historical figures?
Jim Bridger (Shea Whigham)
The real Jim Bridger was a pioneer who found himself caught in conflicts involving Native Americans, Mormons, and the US government after establishing Fort Bridger, which grew into a small settlement on the frontier. Brigham Young (Kim Coates) As the leader of the Mormon church, Young commanded his own militia known as the Nauvoo Legion.
Executive producer Smith emphasized the importance of authenticity in the storytelling, noting that many of Young's lines were taken directly from his actual sermons.
Wild Bill Hickman (Alex Breaux)
Hickman was a well-known lawman and served in the Nauvoo Legion.
Winter Bird (Irene Bedard)
While Winter Bird is a fictional character, she draws inspiration from a real Shoshone chief who was said to have been a lesbian and had multiple wives, according to Berg.
James Wolsey (Joe Tippett)
Wolsey is based on a historical figure who was executed for his involvement in the Meadows Massacre. Newman points out that each character carries a sense of inspiration and authenticity, ensuring that none feel like mere fabrications disconnected from the true narrative.
Preston Mota as Devin Rowell and Betty Gilpin as Sara Rowell
What causes the tension among the Mormons, the military, and the Native tribes in American Primeval?
Berg pointed out that in this story, there are no clear heroes or villains; instead, it’s about individuals simply striving to survive.
“Brigham Young and the Mormons feel as though the military is about to attack them at any point in time, so they’ve started their own army called the Nauvoo Legion,” he explained. “The American Army is concerned with getting the Mormons out of Utah territory, so they’re nervous that they’re going to die fighting the Mormons.
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The Shoshone and the Paiute tribes are being squeezed from their lands by both sides, so they feel like they’re getting ready to die. The miners and the trappers at Fort Bridger are all seeing their lives extinguished by larger trapper companies who are coming in and squeezing them out. Everybody is anxious from the get-go and everyone is truly fighting to stay alive.”
Is the Mountain Meadows Massacre a true historical event?
In the premiere episode, a panicked Sara (Betty Gilpin) and her son Devin (Preston Mota) desperately seek shelter as arrows fly and chaos ensues around them. This intense moment, showcasing Mormon soldiers disguised as Native Americans attacking a group of westward pioneers, draws inspiration from actual historical events. “We selected this because it highlights the complex interactions among various Native nations, the US government, the Mormons, and American settlers who believed they had the right to traverse this land,” Newman shared.
“The Mountain Meadows Massacre is a real occurrence … and it serves as a pivotal conflict point for our characters.” Smith emphasized their goal of providing a nuanced portrayal of history. “While it was instigated by the Nauvoo Legion, it’s crucial to recognize that they viewed it as a threat,” he explained. “They were acting to protect their community. This was just one of the many violent measures they took.” The sequence depicting the Mountain Meadows Massacre was a significant endeavor, requiring around four months of preparation and involving approximately 280 actors performing simultaneously.
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“It’s very violent, it’s very chaotic,” Berg noted. “We designed one large shot that goes on for about six or seven minutes. We play the attack in real time, and we stay with Sara and Devin, just trying to survive. That was the strategy: Let’s visually present this event through the eyes of this woman. There was a lot of work blocking it, choreographing the action, then figuring out how and where the camera moves within a series of five or six shots that had to be stitched together.”
Is Fort Bridger based on a real place?
Yes, Fort Bridger is indeed based on a real location. Back in the 1850s, it served as a trading post for pioneers heading westward.
“It was used by all the pioneers [and] the Mormons. It was the stopping ground,” Smith said. “When President Buchanan decided he wanted to get control of Brigham Young and what was growing in Utah, he stationed his military there. Fort Bridger was the gathering point for everyone.”
The creation of the Fort Bridger set in New Mexico, where American Primeval was shot, was a result of teamwork and collaboration.
“There are hundreds of massive, 80-foot trees that were used to build the walls around Fort Bridger,” Berg divulged. “Back in the 1850s, there were no power tools so that had to be cut by hand with axes, and those construction guys were out there every day building that set with hand tools.”
The set was built larger in scale than the real Fort Bridger, Smith said, because “we wanted to have so much life there. It became like a small village. We had shops, and we had a dentist and a doctor, and baths and things that were accurate to that time period. Fort Bridger took on a life of its own.”
Kim Coates as Brigham Young and Shea Whigham as Jim Bridger
Matt Kennedy/Netflix
Why did Jim Bridger sell Fort Bridger?
In Episode 6, Jim Bridger decides to sell Fort Bridger to Brigham Young before vanishing into the wilderness as the fort goes up in flames. This dramatic moment is rooted in actual historical events.
“Fort Bridger was perceived to be this incredible asset by the US military and the Mormon church in terms of their ability to defend each other,” Berg: “Bridger knew this, and he held out as long as he could. [He] took the best deal he could and rode off for perhaps one last chapter of his life.”
Smith explained that Brigham Young purchased the fort to “take control of it himself. Not for profit, necessarily, but to get rid of it so that the [US army] wouldn’t be able to use it. At that point, for Brigham Young, it was a defense from the outside world.”
So, did the filmmakers actually burn down the Fort Bridger set? “We burned down about half of it,” Berg shares. “It was based on a true event.”
What kind of research was involved in creating American Primeval?
To enhance the show's authenticity, the team behind American Primeval brought in specialists from various fields throughout the production process.
“We had military consultants, we had Mormon consultants, we had trapper consultants, and they were all on set,” Berg explained. “I went with Dudley Gardner, the curator of the Bridger museum, to Fort Bridger in Wyoming for five days to get a deeper education into what life was like on that fort.” The EP then toured the site of the massacre with Richard E. Turley Jr., the co-author of Vengeance Is Mine: The Mountain Meadows Massacre and Its Aftermath, to learn more.
Berg also turned to consultants from the Shoshone Tribe and the Paiute Tribe, who were managed by Indigenous cultural consultant and project advisor Julie O’Keefe.
“My job on the show was to manage organized teams of cultural experts from the Tribes involved,” O’Keefe told Netflix. “Artisans, traditional language speakers from each Tribe, and cultural experts were engaged to create and advise every department. I also researched and used my network to create authentic camps for the Shoshone, Southern Paiute, and Ute with [production designer] Renée Read for set design, and I worked with [costume designer] Virginia Johnson to help produce period-specific traditional clothing for principal characters and background characters.”
In addition, she “resourced materials such as buffalo hide, elk skin, buckskin, beads, broadcloth, and blankets, following photos and research done by Virginia and the other department teams.”
Added Newman, “Everything was entirely geared towards authenticity. Every department did a tremendous amount of research. We had to make all these things you see on-screen. All of these elements had to be built. It’s incredibly time-consuming, but essential, because if someone shows up with some article of clothing or a weapon that didn’t exist in 1857, you’ve already lost.”
Is there any validity to Abish’s story?
Abish’s (Lightfoot-Leon) storyline draws inspiration from historical narratives of women who were taken by Native Americans in what is now Utah.
We wanted to explore the idea of this young Mormon woman who’s being kind of pushed into a life and a marriage that she did not ask for, and through fate, ends up in a much different world and never fully assimilates,” Berg says.
Saura Lightfoot Leon as Abish
Matt Kennedy/Netflix
What should viewers take away from this story?
“I think human triumph, the reinforcement of the good that people are capable of, is very important to me as it is to Pete,” says Newman. “The other part of what matters to me is the importance of an anti-nostalgic, truthful look at our history. I was a big Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States fan because it was the first time I was confronted with what I believed to be the truth. That these rose-colored glasses in which we view the past, from the first Thanksgiving onward, is a lie. It’s a lie meant to make us feel good about this really rugged, brutal path that we’ve taken.”
He adds, “I think we do a disservice to ourselves by looking at it in that way because it prevents us from seeing it [happening] again.”
All six episodes of American Primeval are now streaming on Netflix.
