ALL ABOARD THE "HELL ON WHEELS"

Justice, freedom and revenge are the personal requiems of existence for Elam Ferguson as Connor and Anson Mount as Cullen in the new drama HELL ON WHEELS. Image: AMC. 

There hasn't been a major league Western series on the airwaves since the demise of HBO's highly acclaimed DEADWOOD, so it's going to be interesting to see how AMC's equally dark themed and realistic new genre series, HELL ON WHEELS, will hold up in comparison, especially now in a fickle world of TV/audience viewing that has changed quite drastically since Al Swearengen stopped shouting foul tirades at people and treating his saloon whores like dirt.

From the plot synopsis of the series opener, HELL ON WHEELS, created by Joe and Tony Gayton, almost feels like a modern day, more violent re-imagining of classic series like THE RIFLEMAN (which featured an American civil war veteran as its main character) or the long lost Gene Roddenberry TV pilot THE LONG HUNT OF APRIL SAVAGE, which has a similar story of revenge to HELL ON WHEELS (HUNT starred Robert Lansing, later to be well known for his role in Classic STAR TREK (as alien agent Gary Seven) and THE EQUALIZER, as Edward Woodward's ex-boss, Control). HELL tells the story of an ex-confederate solider, Cullen Bohannon-surely to be another of those enigmatic gun slinging "man with no name" types that westerns often do so well (and played in a new guise by Anson Mount), who goes on the road in search of the Union soldiers that murdered his wife. This journey of dark payback takes him to the "Hell on Wheels" railroads and townships of Nebraska, and a first encounter with Cheyenne Indian tribes determined to stop the constructions hitting their land...

Co-starring Elam Ferguson as Common, a recently freed slave who enters into a unique kind of friendship and partner-ship with Cullen, other characters include excellent Irish character actor Colm Meaney as Thomas "Doc" Durant, likely to be the series morally grey and avaricious main antagonist and inventor of the transcontinental railroad, whilst glamour (well, the kind that is the most realistic for the time period) comes in the youthful form of Dominique McElligott as Lily Bell, a widow in a man's world who recently lost her husband, presumably in a sub-plot under suspicious circumstances, as the rail road began construction, and no doubt a further will they or won't they love interest/dramatic foil to the embittered Cullen. With a face and attitude perfect for Westerns, MONK's Ted Levene will also be popping up as a guest star along the way as one of the railroad bosses.

Filmed in the evocative climes of Calgary and Alberta, Canada, and starting in the US next week (no UK date or transmission home yet), here's the first trailer for the ten episode series: 'Hell on Wheels' Trailer - YouTube

We wish the makers of HELL ON WHEELS the best of success on their television journey, and hope that their tale of gun play, revenge and the era of the pioneers ultimately makes the grade alongside the best of the Western genre's iconic shows. It has a lot to live up to...