Taylor Sheridan’s flagship neo-Western Yellowstone helped repopularize the Western genre in television for the streaming age. The modern-day setting, combined with a heavy dose of scenic Western vistas, helped make the Western aesthetic accessible for a new generation of viewers, resulting in Yellowstone‘s unprecedented popularity. The expanding Yellowstone universe now includes spinoffs and sequels, but its scope pales in comparison to a Western drama that began captivating audiences seven years before the gates opened on the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch.
In the wake of AMC’s meteoric rise in popularity thanks to shows like The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men, the historical drama series Hell on Wheels rolled onto TV screens boasting gritty, old-school cinematic Western vibes and a powerful cast. Set in the time period directly after the Civil War, Hell On Wheels chronicles the conflicts of (mostly) fictional characters who lived in the mud-soaked collection of brothels, saloons, churches, and camps that made up the mobile town that followed the construction of the transcontinental railroad. As intriguing as the drama and cowboy action is, Yellowstone falls well short of Hell on Wheels when it comes to depth and sheer scale.
AMC’s ‘Hell On Wheels’ Is a Massively-Scaled Western Historical Epic
Hell On Wheels grabbed audiences right away in its first season mostly due to the incredible hook around its protagonist, Cullen Bohannon, played by Anson Mount. As a former Confederate soldier headed west while hunting down the Union soldiers who murdered his wife and son, Bohannon is as well-executed a classic Western antihero as you’ll find in modern television. Mount’s performance as the cold yet magnetic soldier-turned-railroad foreman carries the show, although he gets plenty of support from the diverse and talented cast led by Dominique McElligott (The Boys), Colm Meaney (Star Trek: The Next Generation) and Common (The Hate U Give).
What makes Hell On Wheels so impactful is the depth and breadth of its subject matter. In its exploration of the transcontinental railroad’s furious expansion westward, the show handles complex social and political subjects while never abandoning the action and intrigue that makes the show entertaining. The building of the railroad attracted people from all corners of the nascent United States, including the Native Americans whose land the railroad was cutting through, recently freed black slaves, and a bevy of European immigrants seeking their fortune. Hell on Wheels handles a wide array of perspectives through a gritty, realistic lens that outshines Yellowstone’s more limited Dutton-centric scope.
‘Hell on Wheels’ Heavier Themes Make It a Deeply Engaging Watch
Yellowstone‘s modern setup sort of limits the depth that it can even address, as the progression of time along with the Montana setting gives it only a few thematic notes to hit. Hell On Wheels, on the other hand, is set in the lawlessness on the edge of the Old West during one of the most socially and politically volatile time periods that the United States has ever experienced. Cullen Bohannon’s revenge thriller narrative is engaging, but the friction between the different groups present in the Hell on Wheels camp is where the show is at its best. Exploring the burgeoning friendship between a Confederate colonel and a newly-freed black former slave is thematic depth that Yellowstone simply can’t touch, whereas it’s one of the most important and prevalent dynamics of Hell On Wheels.
