“Why do you people have so much hunger to kill?”
That’s one of the more pertinent questions asked in the official trailer for American Primeval, the Pete Berg-directed series for Netflix about life in the American West in 1857.
Written by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant), the drama promises to show how “pain is everywhere” and “innocence and tranquility are losing the battle to hatred and fear.” The six-episode limited series that is a fictionalized dramatization and examination of the violent collision of culture, religion, and community in the old west will debut Jan. 9.
American Primeval stars Taylor Kitsch, Betty Gilpin, Dane DeHaan, Saura Lightfoot-Leon, Derek Hinkey, Joe Tippett, Jai Courtney, Preston Mota, Shawnee Pourier, and Shea Whigham. Indigenous cast includes Hovia Edwards-Yellowjohn (Shoshone Bannock-Navajo), Pete Yellowjohn (Shoshone Bannock), Georgette Running Eagle (Shoshone Bannock), Robert Perry (Shoshone Bannock), Kugee Supernaw (Quapaw and Osage) and Son Supernaw (Quapaw-Osage and Caddo), Joe Cheshawalla (Osage) Debbie Cheshawalla (Choctaw), and Molly Murphy Adams (Oglala Lakota).
Guest stars include Kim Coates (Brigham Young), Lucas Neff (Captain Dellinger), Kyle Davis (Tilly), Tokala Black Elk (Buffalo Run), Nick Hargrove (Cottrell), Irene Bedard (Winter Bird), Nanabah Grace (Kuttaambo’i), Alex Breaux (Wild Bill Hickman), Dominic Bogart (Cook), Alex Fine (Gant), Kip Weeks (Pepper), and Jeremiah Bitsui (Grey Fox).
Berg and Smith executive produce with Eric Newman and Alex Gayner. Julie O’Keefe is Indigenous Cultural Consultant and Project Advisor.