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?

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.

After sitting on top of the Netflix top 10 list for a while, American Primeval, the limited series starring Taylor Kitsch, is now down to #2 thanks to the arrival of Monday Night

Though American Primeval was only pitched as limited series, fans are already asking for season 2. Much like other limited series Westerns such as 1883, there are not many characters who survive all six episodes of American Primeval.

Westerns – thanks to shows like Yellowstone – have come back in a huge way. And what’s more: American Primeval tackles a fascinating subject, which is America’s only indigenous religion: Mormonism and it’s (literal) war for legitimacy.

American Primeval” revolves mostly around a woman and her young son making their way west in the hopes of reaching a faraway settlement where, the woman assumes, her husband will be waiting for her. She and her boy go as far as they can on the still-unbuilt railroad.