Netflix‘s first major hit of 2025 is undoubtedly American Primeval. The Peter Berg-directed series drops modern audiences right into the hellscape that was 1857 Utah Territory. We watch as east coast widow Sara (Betty Gilpin) and her son Devin (Preston Mota) must survive Mormon militia raids, cannibalistic French Canadians, rabid wolves, brutal bounty hunters, and the harsh elements with nothing but their wits, courage, and the help of new friends Isaac Reed (Taylor Kitsch) and Two Moons (Shawnee Pourier).
Part of what makes Netflix’s American Primeval so bewitching is Peter Berg’s naturalistic approach to the setting. Berg uses natural light, Dutch angles, and hand-held cameras to embed us in the splendor of the untamed wilderness. We feel like a pioneer braving the elements or a warrior narrowing avoiding death. This approach to filming a Western sheds any Hollywood pretense from the story, making each setback our heroes experience feel all the more painful. It also means that modern audiences get a tantalizing taste of what the majestic American frontier might have looked like before it was settled by the very characters we’re following.
Obsessed with the visuals in Netflix’s American Primeval? Curious if American Primeval‘s rustic vistas represent the real Utah and Wyoming? Want to know where Netflix’s version of Fort Bridger was raised (and then, uh, razed)? Here’s everything you need to know about where American Primeval was filmed…
American Primeval is set in Utah Territory, but it was not filmed there. Instead, Netflix’s American Primeval was filmed in modern day New Mexico.
An official production announcement from New Mexico Film revealed that the show was shot in and around Santa Fe, NM, employing over 4,000 state residents as background talent, cast, and crew. That same press release noted that American Primeval was also based at Netflix’s Studios in Albuquerque.
TimeOut has deeper reporting on specific New Mexico sites used for Peter Berg’s epic six part series. The historic Bonanza Creek Ranch and Charles R Ranch both were tapped for the series, as were small towns like Cochiti Pueblo and Santa Clara Pueblo.
Pajarito Ski Mountain was perhaps most memorable, though, for director Peter Berg and the show’s Indigenous culture and history consultant Julie O’Keefe.
When DECIDER asked Berg if he was open to continuing American Primeval past its first season, he admitted that he had some ideas for the surviving characters. However, there was one caveat: “I’ve still got to thaw out from my time spent up on those mountains in the winter, but maybe if they got to lower ground, that wasn’t quite as cold, we could. We could go back.”
“If [Indigenous Consultant] Julie [O’Keefe] will come back, I’d be up for discussing it,” Berg added.
“As long as I don’t have to have ice cleats again, I definitely will come back,” O’Keefe said.
So if American Primeval returns, and it returns to New Mexico, don’t expect production to return to the ski resort.
All six episodes of American Primeval are streaming on Netflix.