AMC’s Hell on Wheels is a fascinating take on the efforts behind building the first US transcontinental railway. Set in the lawless mobile boomtown that followed the Union Pacific railhead west after the Civil War, it follows former Confederate cavalryman Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) as revenge and railroad work pull him into a world of greed, violence and grit.
Across five seasons (2011–2016), Anson Mount, Colm Meaney, Common, Dominique McElligott and company bring the muddy, brutal business of laying track to life. It is a western with real historical weight, and for me every series earns 5/5.
Fans of muscular American westerns will feel right at home. Essential viewing if you like your history with dirt under its fingernails.
Abbreviated Cast List