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Netflix’s American Primeval is here to fill the Western void on the small screen, and while it succeeds in most measures, this bloody drama fails to stick the landing.
The streaming service is no stranger to the Western. From mini movie spectacles like The Power of the Dog and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, to impactful shows like Godless (one of the best Western TV shows of the last decade, without a doubt), the platform knows when to bring the gun-slingin’ genre back from the dead.
It’s good timing, then, that its latest release – a “raw, adventurous exploration of the birth of the American West” – comes after one behemoth cowboy drama has hung up its hat. Since 2018, Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone has held the monopoly on Western TV, but with the finale bringing the show to a close in December 2024, there was a large gap to fill.
American Primeval, a six-episode character-driven thriller, doesn’t fill that gap. But it does offer a bloodthirsty, torturous perspective on the typical heroism of such stories. If it had followed through on its own promise, then the show might have been one of Netflix’s best offerings this year.
What is Netflix’s American Primeval about?
In the same vein as Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga, American Primeval follows several storylines and characters, all of whom are trying to survive in the dangerous West in 1857.
Namely, there’s Sara Rowell (Betty Gilpin) and her son Devin (Preston Mota), who are looking for a guide to assist them in their journey to find his father.
When things don’t go to plan, they’re stuck with Isaac (Taylor Kitsch), a rough and wild man who finds himself in charge of both them and a stray Native American girl, Two Moons (Shawnee Pourier).
There’s also a group of Mormons making their own journey, led by Jacob Pratt (Dane DeHaan) and his doubtful wife Abish (Saura Lightfoot-Leon), who become separated after a terrible attack.
On the opposing side, the dangerous zealot Brigham Young (Kim Coates) is leading the charge on a religious war, willing to kill even his own. Finally, there’s also Jim Bridger (Shea Whigham), a grizzly fort owner who pushes back against the Mormon takeover.
As secrets become uncovered and bounty hunters and religious fanatics hunt down anyone who gets in their way, nobody is safe.
A brutal drama gives the genre a boost
It’s clear from American Primeval’s first episode that this is a Western show with a spine. Yellowstone might have had hitmen, murderous siblings and gunfire, but American Primeval has blood, limbs and teeth, all spat out onto the muddy ground in brutal manner.
This isn’t the slick and sunny West we’re usually shown by Hollywood. Here, the camera rattles with every jolt of the wagon, pig blood spills out onto the streets, and electric guitar riffs rip through the grey setting and disorientating action. “If Paul Greengrass did cowboys,” wouldn’t be an exaggerated comparison here.
NetflixIt’s not just outlaws after you in American Primeval, it’s the Mormon militia, the military, the Native Americans, the wolves, the bears, and just about every person you encounter.
With all this, the Netflix series returns the genre to a much darker, much more gruesome format – a welcome change I’d like to see more of with future Western tales.
However, for as gripping as the characters are (bolstered by perfect performances from Gilpin, Kitsch, and Whigham in particular), six episodes isn’t enough to see a full-circle story come together, and it results in the final episode feeling like a damp finish on an otherwise powerful show.
American Primeval falls off its horse
With multiple storylines threatening to converge throughout, the final episode sees some of these characters reunite and bid farewell. But the conclusion is rushed, too open-ended for its own good, and feels like a race to hopeful and dramatic moments that never actually land.
It’s a shame, considering the show’s artful action sequences, that the ending should feel so lacking. The conclusion to Jacob and Abish’s story feels particularly quick and painless. When their respective journeys feel so desperate and traumatic, it doesn’t do them justice.
NetflixNone of these characters get a well-considered ending, which feels like a failure on the show’s part. Some characters are forgotten about ahead of the finale altogether, such as Two Moons, who feels sidelined throughout. There’s really no excuse for this when other miniseries’ such as 1883 and Godless exist, which manage to tell well-rounded and satisfying stories in a limited time.
When we’ve been forced to witness the atrocities they all have to endure, viewers will be left wanting more closure, even if it’s unhappy.
Dexerto Review Score: 3/5 – Good
American Primeval is an unexpected take on the Western TV world, introducing the potential for far more graphic, vicious accounts of this particular part of history. Tragic characters and action you can’t look away from cements this as a worthwhile effort on Netflix’s part, and will hopefully inspire more of the same.
However, lessons do need to be taken from American Primeval. Namely, the character’s journey is everything. (It’s this same problem that likely stopped Horizon: An American Saga from finding its spark – too many characters and not enough attention on any of them.)
But still, it’s an aggressive piece of work that’ll likely leave viewers cringing for all the right reasons.
American Primeval is available to stream on Netflix now.
For more, check out everything we know about Horizon: An American Saga – Part 2. You can also find out what’s happening with 6666, The Madison, and 1944. While for information on how we score TV shows and movies, check out our scoring guidelines here.
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