The article revisits AMC's "Hell on Wheels," a five-season Western drama that aired from 2011 to 2016 and is now streaming on both AMC+ and Paramount+. The piece argues it deserves renewed attention, positioning it as a grittier, more compelling predecessor to Paramount+'s "Yellowstone," which it suggests has drawn criticism for being overly stylised compared with this earlier show.

The series follows Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount), a former Confederate soldier who joins the Union Pacific Railroad's westward construction between 1865 and 1869, seeking the Union soldiers who killed his wife and son. The mobile work camp that gives the show its name is depicted as a violent, rough frontier settlement, with key characters including Elam Ferguson (Common), Eva Toole (Robin McLeavy) and Lily Bell (Dominique McElligott), alongside antagonists Thomas "Doc" Durant (Colm Meaney) and his enforcer "The Swede" (Christopher Heyerdahl).