Betty Gilpin, Dane DeHaan Board Netflix’s ‘American Primeval’

Netflix has filled out the cast of its Taylor Kitsch-led western American Primeval.

Betty Gilpin, Dane DeHaan, Jai Courtney and Shea Whigham are among the 11 actors joining the series, which coms from writer Mark L. Smith (The Revenant) and executive producers Pete Berg (Friday Night Lights) and Eric Newman (Narcos). The cast will also feature Kyle Bradley Davis, Nick Hargrove, Derek Hinkey, Saura Lightfoot Leon, Preston Mota, Shawnee Pourier and Joe Tippett.

The six-episode American Primeval is described as “a raw, adventurous exploration of the birth of the American West. The violent collisions of cultures, religions and communities as men and women fight and die for control of this new world — for a land they truly believe is their destiny. The ensemble tells a story of the sacrifice all must pay when they choose to enter a lawless and untamed wilderness.”

Kitsch plays Isaac, a traumatized man struggling to overcome his demons and find a reason to live. Gilpin (GLOW, Gaslit) plays Sara Rowell, a woman who stops at Fort Bridger — run by Whigham’s (Perry Mason) Jim Bridger — in search of a guide across the frontier for her and her son, Devin (Mota).

DeHaan (The Staircase, Oppenheimer) will play Jacob Pratt, a Mormon man taking his family, including wife Abish (Leon) to join other settlers in Utah. Courtney (Kaleidoscope) plays Virgil Cutter, a trapper and bounty hunter, while Davis plays one of his trappers, the dangerous Tilly.

Hargrove (Charmed) plays Cottrell, Bridger’s right hand man at the fort. Hinkey (Walker: Independence) will play Red Feather, the leader of a group of renegade Crow warriors. Pourier (Dark Winds) plays Two Moons, a strong-willed girl who flees her village. Tippett (Mare of Easttown) plays James Wolsey, a Mormon man leading a militia who don’t possess the moral code by which they claim to live.

Smith is writing all six episodes of American Primeval, and Berg will direct. Berg, via his Film 44, and Newman, via Grand Electric, are executive producing with Smith. Berg and Newman are also behind Netflix’s upcoming opioid crisis drama Painkiller, which also stars Kitsch.