Netflix drops the official American Primeval trailer for the Pete Berg series

“Why are you so hungry to kill?”

It’s one of the more pertinent questions asked in the official trailer for American Primevalthe Pete Berg-directed series for Netflix about life in the American West in 1857.

Written by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant), the drama promises to show how “pain is everywhere” and “innocence and calm lose the battle to hatred and fear.” The six-episode limited series, a fictionalized dramatization and examination of the violent collision between culture, religion and community in the Old West, premieres January 9.

American Primeval stars Taylor Kitsch, Betty Gilpin, Dane DeHaan, Saura Lightfoot-Leon, Derek Hinkey, Joe Tippett, Jai Courtney, Preston Mota, Shawnee Pourier and Shea Whigham. Guest stars include Kim Coates (Brigham Young), Lucas Neff (Captain Dellinger), Kyle Davis (Tilly), Tokala Black Elk (Buffalo Run), Nick Hargrove (Cottrell), Irene Bedard (Winter Bird), Nanabah Grace (Kuttaambo’i) . ), Alex Breaux (Wild Bill Hickman), Dominic Bogart (Cook), Alex Fine (Gant), Kip Weeks (Pepper) and Jeremiah Bitsui (Grey Fox).

Native artisans who lent their talents to the production include Hovia Edwards-Yellowjohn (Shoshone Bannock-Navajo), Pete Yellowjohn (Shoshone Bannock), Georgette Running Eagle (Shoshone Bannock), Robert Perry (Shoshone Bannock), Kugee Supernaw (Quapaw and Osage ) and Son Supernaw (Quapaw-Osage and Caddo), Joe Cheshawalla (Osage) Debbie Cheshawalla (Choctaw) and Molly Murphy Adams (Oglala Lakota).

Berg and Smith are producing with Eric Newman and Alex Gayner. Julie O’Keefe is an Indigenous Cultural Consultant and Project Advisor.