When done right, a story involving quest for vengeance told in a Western setting can be really great, which is probably what’s so appealing about AMC’s upcoming drama series Hell on Wheels. More details on the upcoming new series and a first-look video ahead.
AMC announced today that production will officially begin for their upcoming new original series Hell on Wheels on Monday, May 16th. The show stars Anson Mount as a former confederate soldier named Cullen Bohannon. Set in America not long after the Civil War, the series follows Bohannon as he sets out on a quest for revenge against the Union soldiers who killed his wife.
His journey takes him west to ‘Hell on Wheels,’ a dangerous, raucous, lawless melting pot of a town that travels with and services the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, an engineering feat unprecedented for its time. The series documents the railroad's incredible feat of engineering and construction as well as the institutionalized greed and corruption, the immigrant experience, and the plight of the newly emancipated African-Americans during reconstruction. Over time, “Hell on Wheels” chronicles this potent turning point in our nation's history, and how uncivilized the business of civilization can be.
Also among the cast are musician/actor Common, Dominique McElligott, Colm Meany, Ben Esler, Philip Burk and Eddie Spears. The series was created by Joe and Tony Gayton.
Below is the first-look video for Hell on Wheels, which is slated to premiere on AMC in 2011.
AMC’s willingness to explore different genres is one of the things that’s most intriguing and in some ways appealing about the network, however this isn’t the cable channel’s first foray into the wild west. The mini-series Broken Trail premiered in June 2006 and was the second most watched cable movie since 1995, taking in 10 million viewers total over the two-night airing.
