Where Was “American Primeval ”Filmed? All About the Real Locations Behind the Western Series

The plot of American Primeval may be violent and harsh — but the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful.

Set in the Wild West during the 1850s, the Netflix historical drama starring Taylor Kitsch and Betty Gilpin retells the real-life massacre of over 120 settlers at the hands of a Mormon and Native American army. Caught in the middle of the fight to gain control of the American West is Sara Rowell (Gilpin), a mother whose only goals are to get her son safely across the frontier — and flee from her dark past.

In these lawless parts, other humans (particularly the Mormon militia intent on defending their way of life) are the primary predators. But the land itself is just as cruel, as the actors and crew can attest. Snow, rain, thunder, lighting and rattlesnakes were common sights in the remote mountains where the limited series was filmed.

“When you’re on hour 15 of shooting, and you’re freezing, and you’re beyond exhausted, it all comes into play,” Kitsch told Tudum in January 2025. “There’s nothing better than shooting on location. I loved it.”

Related: Is American Primeval a True Story? All About the Deadly Utah Massacre That Inspired the Netflix Miniseries (and Its Connection to 2015’s The Revenant)

So, where was American Primeval filmed? Read on to learn more about the show’s shooting locations and the real historical sites that inspired them.

Was American Primeval filmed in Utah?

Though most of American Primeval's story is fictionalized, the mass murder of travelers is a real event that happened in 1857 during a year-long battle for control over the Utah Territory.

During that period, the area covered all of present-day Utah and parts of Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming, per the U.S. Census. The real location of the massacre was in an area called Mountain Meadow, which is in present-day Washington County, Utah.

Despite the Mountain Meadow Massacre inspiring American Primeval, none of the above states served as the filming location for this Peter Berg-directed miniseries. Instead, the Western was shot in New Mexico, which is home to a similar landscape and weather patterns that the real settlers would have experienced.

Where was American Primeval filmed?

American Primeval was filmed primarily in New Mexico, with only two of the 130 days of filming taking place indoors. Berg told Tudum that he was inspired to build out the predominantly outdoors set — which included specific sites like Pueblo de Cochiti, Santa Clara Pueblo, the Parajito Mountain Ski Area and Charles R Ranch — by Robert Redford’s 1972 film Jeremiah Johnson.

“When I saw it as a kid, I felt like I was in it,” the director said. “I was in the elements ... just surviving, and I always wanted to do something like that.”

Some of the filming also took place in the New Mexico mountains. The area was so remote that the crew often didn’t have Wi-Fi or cell service — something Gilpin, who most recently starred in the Peacock sci-fi series Mrs. Davis, wasn’t ready for.

“I’m used to controlled soundstage environments,” the actress told Tudum. “Because we were out in the New Mexican elements, the weather one second looked like Palm Springs, and the next second looked like we were in a hurricane. But Pete Berg just rolled with it.”

Gilpin continued, “It felt very collaborative, and it felt like going back to acting school almost, where you really had to think on your toes and be ready for anything.”

Scenes from American Primeval were also shot at Bonanza Creek Ranch, an 1880s mining-town-turned-movie-set in New Mexico where a long list of other notable projects have been filmed, including the 2007 version of 3:10 to Yuma, Django Unchained and Dark Winds.

Is Fort Bridger real?

Yes, Fort Bridger is a real place. It was built in 1842 by infamous mountaineer Jim Bridger (played by Shea Whigham in American Primeval) as a trading post and resting place for settlers migrating West. Located in present-day Wyoming, the modest fort included a blacksmith shop, a corral and a few log cabins, per the 1946 biography Jim Bridger, Mountain Man.

“It was used by all the pioneers [and] the Mormons. It was the stopping ground,” writer and executive producer Mark L. Smith told Tudum in January 2025. “When President Buchanan decided he wanted to get control of Brigham Young and what was growing in Utah, he stationed his military there. Fort Bridger was the gathering point for everyone.”

The original Fort Bridger site was burned down by the Mormons in 1857. To get inspiration for the replica the American Primeval crew built, Berg visited the grounds of the historic site in Wyoming for five days “to get a deeper education into what life was like on that fort.”

“It became like a small village,” the Spenser Confidential director told Tudum of recreating the site. “We had shops, and we had a dentist and a doctor, and baths and things that were accurate to that time period. Fort Bridger took on a life of its own.”

The real Fort Bridger site was dedicated as a Wyoming Historical Landmark and Museum in 1933 and can still be visited today.

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