Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Revenant!
American Primevalis a popular new Western drama miniseries from Netflix, and while the show tells an original story, it also acts as a secret sequel to Leonardo DiCaprio’sThe Revenant. In the 10 years since it was released, 2015’sThe Revenanthas become a Western classic, with it following the true story ofLeonardo DiCaprio’s Hugh Glassas he attempts to get revenge on his son’s killers after a brutal bear attack. While DiCaprio’sThe Revenantcharacter doesn’t appear inAmerican Primeval, the series does have a major connection to the true story behind the Oscar-winning film.
Netflix’sAmerican Primevalfollows a mother and son as they attempt to cross the dangers of the frontier, with Betty Gilpin’s Sara Rowell seeking out a guide to help them survive and find her husband. The miniseries comes from director Peter Berg andThe Revenantwriter Mark L. Smith. WhileAmerican Primevaldoes use a lot of elements of historical fiction, with it being setduring the real-life Utah Warand featuring true events like the Mountain Meadows Massacre, it is a fictional story, with this being a major difference between the miniseries andThe Revenant.
American Primeval Continues Jim Bridger’s Story, Decades After The Revenant
He May Have Been Involved With The Real-Life Hugh Glass
InAmerican Primeval,Shea Whigham plays Jim Bridger, a real-life mountain man who was the founder of Fort Bridger. As it turns out, this historical figure is the biggest connection betweenAmerican PrimevalandThe Revenant, with him being portrayed in both films. A younger version of Bridger is shown inThe Revenant, with him being played by Will Poulter. In the film, Bridger is a member of Hugh Glass' fur trapping party, with him being complicit in the cover up of Hawk’s murder. By the end of the movie, Glass realizes that Bridger was lied to, forgiving him.
American Primeval True Story Explained: Accuracy & Changes
Netflix’s epic period Western series American Primeval is based on a handful of real-life events and historical figures with some altered details.
Although it isn’t confirmed, it is widely believed that Jim Bridger was involved in the real-life story of Hugh Glass' survival. Recountings of Glass' story state that a man named Bridges was one of the men tasked with waiting for Glass to die,with it being believed that Bridges is actually Jim Bridger. AsAmerican Primevalshowed, Bridger would eventually go on to found Fort Bridger in what is now Wyoming, with him doing this in 1843. The Mormons would eventually buy Fort Bridger and burn it down, similarly to how it is portrayed inAmerican Primeval.
American Primeval Shares Similar Themes With The Revenant
They Are Both About Survival
Although Jim Bridger is the only shared character between the stories ofThe RevenantandAmerican Primeval, both films also share a thematic connection. Both of the Mark L. Smith scripts attempt to focus on survival, with the stories focusing on the hardships that their characters go through while trying to reach someone.Hugh Glass struggles to find his son’s killers after the bear attackwhile Sara and Devin Rowell struggle to find Sara’s husband, with both protagonists encountering all kinds of dangers along the way. Near-death experiences are constantly shown, although the characters eventually persevered.
On top of that,The RevenantandAmerican Primevalare both incredibly dark, with the Western stories attempting to show how violent the era was. The Arikara attack at the beginning ofThe Revenantas well as the bear attack and subsequent action scenes are incredibly violent, although not unrealistically so. Similarly,the Mountain Meadows Massacre and other battlesportrayed inAmerican Primevalare super dark, with them being filled with deaths, gore, and even the killings of children. So, while the stories are different, the settings, tones, and themes are near identical.
American Primeval Repeats A Controversial Aspect Of The Revenant
But It Isn’t Receiving The Same Backlash
One other link betweenThe RevenantandAmerican Primevalis the controversial way that they covered an aspect of the frontier.The Revenantfeatures a group of French-Canadian hunters, with Glass coming across them as they are lynching Hikuc and raping Powaqa.The Revenantreceived backlash for its protrayal of this group, with actor Roy Dupius criticizing the film for portraying French-Canadians as murderous rapists (viaNational Post).
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Several other movies and shows capture similar Western and violent horror elements of Netflix’s epic period Western series American Primeval.
Another group of French characters are seen inAmerican Primeval, with them being a cannibalistic family that the protagonists of the series come across. The French family inAmerican Primevalis portrayed almost as monstorous, with them being equally as dangerous as the French-Canadian hunters fromThe Revenant. Thus, it is possible thatAmerican Primevalcould face similar backlash, with it repeating the problem fromThe Revenant.
The Revenant
Cast
Inspired by the true events in the life of Hugh Glass, The Revenant is an action-drama movie that sees Leonardo DiCaprio in the starring role. Betrayed and left for dead by one of the members of his hunting group, Glass finds himself contending with some of the harshest elements imaginable while tending to his deadly wounds, as his will to carry on and need for revenge push him to carry on in this gripping tale of survival.
