American Primeval
WARNING : SPOILERS onwards for American Primeval .
The eerie Gallic family in Netflix ’s epic period Western seriesAmerican Primevaldraws comparisons to the cannibalistic family in a classic 1977 Wes Craven horror flick . American Primevalwas written by Mark L. Smith , who co - write the screenplay forThe Revenantwith Alejandro G. Iñárritu . Peter Berg ( Friday Night Lights , Lone Survivor ) channelise all six episodes ofAmerican Primeval . Taylor Kitsch leads an ensemble castas Isaac Reed , which featuresBetty Gilpin , Dane DeHaan , Saura Lightfoot - Leon , Shea Whigham , Lucas Neff , andKim Coates as Brigham Young . In addition to Young , American Primevalalters several real - animation diachronic detailsand design .
Despite its59 % Rotten Tomatoes score , it gain an 86 % audience score and has been in Netflix ’s Top 10 TV Showsin the United States since it was released on January 9 , 2025 . Kitsch antecedently starred in the Peter Berg filmLone Survivoralongside Mark Wahlberg and Berg ’s classic television seriesFriday Night Lights . By theend ofAmerican Primeval , only a handful of the main characters are left alive asBrigham YoungandWild Bill Hickmantakecontrol of Fort Bridger . American Primevalwas released as a miniseries butBerg of late speculated about the potential difference for a 2nd season .
What Were The French Doing In The American West During American Primeval’s Timeline
Many French explorers and trappers came to Utah Territory in the 1800s
prototype via Netflix
American Primevalepisode 3 introduces a group of eerie French Canadian traveller who lure Sara into a trap with a young girlfriend . Sara ’s good intentions end up backfiring and place her , her son Devin , and Isaac Reed ’s lives in imminent risk . Sara snub Isaac ’s word of advice to disregard the young woman because of the risk but Sara ’s rawness on the frontier leads her to act with her heart instead of her brain . After the group of French Canadians successfully skirt Sara and Isaac , they held them confined . The Gallic group appear to be in the American West at the time , mostly because they were making a life in the fur trade .
Several other movies and shows capture interchangeable Western and red horror chemical element of Netflix ’s epic period Western series American Primeval .
Custom Image by Simone Ashmoore
Like many Eastern Americans , Canadians also explored the relatively uncharted territorial dominion of Utah during the mid-1800s . Not all the French Canadian traveler were as deplorable as the ones depicted inAmerican Primeval . Many entered the region as mickle military personnel and trappers who looked to make a aliveness in the pelt deal . One of the most prominent French Canadians in Utah Territory was Étienne Provost , who led expeditions in both Utah and New Mexico . According toUtah account , " Although he does not have the panoptic recognition of Jim Bridger or John Colter , Etienne Provost was considered by his coeval as one of the most knowledgeable , skillful , and successful of the mountain hands . "
What’s Up With The French Family In American Primeval & Why Do They Look Like That?
They appear to be warped by inbreeding and cannibalism
The Gallic Canadian family inAmerican Primevalis on the face of it both inbred and cannibalistic , which could explain their unusual and awful appearance , particularly of the old charwoman . give thatAmerican Primevalis a Western with revulsion elements , the appearing of the old woman seems to be intentionally horrifying , adding to the malaise of the scene and the series at large . Based on the family ’s disturbing practices and appearance , it ’s dependable to say that they have been reduced to a subhuman , naive nature . Completely separate from cultivated lifetime , the Canadians become warped in both appearance and morals .
Netflix ’s American Primeval is mark against the backcloth of the Utah War , and here ’s what pass in the often - forgotten U.S. struggle .
In an interview withDecider , Berg revealed that he and author Mark L. Smith learned of French Canadians who " drifted into this part of America in 1857 … and were just sort of living off the dry land . " Berg describes his fictional interpretation of these groups as " some of whom in our creative thinker may have been a bit villainous and may not have been the ideal folks that you wanted to run into accidentally or on intention at any time . “The end solvent is an old womanhood character who looks truly inhumanand could be compared more accurately to a witch .
Image via Netflix
American Primeval’s French Family Calls Back To The Hills Have Eyes
Pluto was the main cannibalistic villain in the 1977 Wes Craven classic
Watching these shot with the French Canadians inAmerican Primevalbrings about trope from the 1977 horror classicThe Hills Have eye . The likeness and characteristic of these eccentric inAmerican Primevalstrike an unsettling resemblance to Pluto in the Wes Craven horror film , making the Netflix serial feel indebted to the cannibals of that pic even though they were n’t French . The idle and inhuman appearances of the French inAmerican Primevalcertainly play up the horror themes and feel of the otherwise Western series , hint that if Sara and Isaac had n’t scat , they would belike have been consumed .
Sources : Utah History , Decider
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American Primeval is a Netflix modified series that follow the lives of several humans and women in the middle of the expansion of the American West . societal moral force collide as men and women conflict for a musical composition of the new world against rivals and each other .