We spoke with series stars Dane DeHaan and Kim Coates about the new Netflix western.
You can’t say they don’t give us early warning about the carnage to come.
“Utah Territory 1857,” read the opening titles. “Wild and untamed. The United States Army, Mormon Militia, Native Americans and Pioneers are locked in a brutal war for survival. Caught in the bloody crossfire are every man, woman and child who dare to enter this American Primeval.”
Directed by Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, Lone Survivor) and written by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant), American Primeval is indeed a singularly intense and sometimes shockingly graphic limited-run series — all six episodes are now available on Netflix — about the dark side of manifest destiny. According to the official Netflix synopsis: “There is no safe haven in these brutal lands, and only one goal matters: survival. American Primeval is a fictionalized dramatization and examination of the violent collision of culture, religion, and community as men and women fight and die to keep or control this land.”
Lead players include Taylor Kitsch (Waco, The Terminal List) as Isaac, a traumatized man struggling to overcome his demons; Betty Gilpin as Sara Rowell (Gaslit, GLOW), a woman seeking a guide across the frontier for herself and her son, Devin (Preston Mata of Asteroid City); Dane DeHaan (pictured above) as Jacob Pratt, a Mormon leading his family across the frontier to join other settlers in Utah; Saura Lightfoot-Leon (Masters of the Air) as Abish Pratt, a Mormon woman who isn’t content to be seen as the property of her husband Jacob; Derek Hinkey (Walker: Independence, Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter One) as Red Feather, the leader of a renegade group of Crow warriors known as the Wolf Clan.
Also: Lucas Neff (Raising Hope) as Captain Dellinger, a disillusioned captain in the United States Army who is responsible for keeping the peace in a very lawless land; and Kim Coates as Brigham Young, the leader of the Mormon Church and a man who will do whatever it takes to secure the survival of his persecuted followers — including using his Mormon army, the Nauvoo Legion.
Dane DeHaan, whose performance as Billy the Kid in Vincent D’Onofrio’s The Kid has been acclaimed as one of the all-time best portrayals of the legendary outlaw, and Kim Coates, whose credits include the westerns Stagecoach: The Texas Jack Story and Godless and the long-running TV series Sons of Anarchy, recently visited the C&I Studio to talk about American Primeval.
