8.2Season 5 • Episode 14
LatestThe golden spike, government hearings and unpredictable actions mean new beginnings and endings for the survivors.
The epic story of post-Civil War America, focusing on Cullen Bohannon, a Confederate soldier who sets out to exact revenge on the Union soldiers who killed his wife. His journey takes him west to Hell on Wheels, a dangerous, raucous, lawless melting pot of a town that travels with and services the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, an engineering feat unprecedented for its time.
Acting
Mount's thousand-yard stare and Meaney's magnificent bastard energy.
Production
Authentic moving town—literally built and struck for filming.
Direction
Gayton brothers understand Western pacing like few others.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The real Hell on Wheels towns moved as railroad construction advanced; the show's set was physically relocated multiple times to mirror this.
Thomas Durant was a real historical figure who did essentially commit the frauds depicted; his eventual financial ruin and obscurity proved more poetic than any writer could invent.
US
