Berg also responds to criticisms of the representation of Mormon church leader Brigham Young and the line he wouldn’t cross when it came to violence depicted in the events surrounding the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

The director of "American Primeval" stops by IndieWire's Filmmaker Toolkit podcast to talk about how he embarked on the toughest shoot of his career.

Netflix’s new historical drama “American Primeval” is currently the No. 1 series on the site. But how much of the show and its characters are based on the 1857 Utah War?

Creator Mark L. Smith's six-episode examination of scruffy, vicious people traversing the Utah Territory in 1857 also stars Taylor Kitsch and Dane DeHaan.

In 2004, director Peter Berg recruited Texan post-rock greats Explosions In The Sky to score his cinematic adaptation of the book Friday Night Lights. When Friday Night Lights became a (great) TV series,

Ben Affleck was spotted returning to his Pacific Palisades home hours after he evacuated the mansion and fled to ex-wife Jennifer Garner’s house due to the rapidly spreading Los Angeles wildfires. The Good Will Hunting star, 52, could be seen driving back to his $20 million house, which was miraculously still standing after the fires...

Jim Bridger, played by Shea Whigham, was a real life pioneer who built the town of Fort Bridger, which features in the series and was a real town. Brigham Young, played by Kim Coates, was also a real life figure. He was the head of the Mormon church at the time and had his own army known as the Nauvoo Legion.

While Brigham Young (Kim Coates) succeeds in burning down Jim Bridger’s (Shea Whigham) beloved fort, Bridger survives the fire. In real life, Jim Bridger would head east to plea his case to the U.S. Government against Young. Fort Bridger would be resurrected as a key U.S. military base of operations and Bridger wouldn’t die until 1881.

In “American Primeval,” Betty Gilpin stars as a gritty, determined mother trying to venture with her son through the dangerous Utah Territory.

In “American Primeval,” Betty Gilpin stars as a gritty, determined mother trying to venture with her son through the dangerous Utah Territory.

American Primeval, Netflix’s flashy (and quite gory) new series depicts the clash between zealous Mormons, imperial federal troops, crude trappers, and bloodthirsty Natives. Think Under the Banner of Heaven meets The Revenant.

After a disappointing early Rotten Tomatoes score for American Primeval, the show has now improved by 19% as more critics share their reviews.