Netflix’s Answer to ‘Yellowstone’ Franchise Hits No. 1: New TV Show ‘American Primeval’ Finds Success

A month after Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone wrapped its five-season run on Paramount Network, viewers clamoring for a new televised Western have found their answer on Netflix. American Primeval, a new limited series that thrusts audiences into the brutal and volatile world of the American West, premiered on Jan. 9 and immediately shot to the top of Netflix’s streaming charts, some declaring the series the “best Western in years.”

Serving as a dramatization of the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre, Netflix’s violent, bloody saga drops viewers into the Utah Territory, where “pain is everywhere, innocence and tranquility are losing the battle to hatred and fear. Peace is the shrinking minority, and very few possess grace — even fewer know compassion.” The series largely focuses on Sara Rowell (Betty Glipin), who hires a guide named Isaac (Taylor Kitsch) to help her and her son Devin Rowell (Preston Mota) on their journey across the Western frontier, where a bloody battle for control of the American West rages.

Within its first week of streaming, American Primeval has already shot to the top of streaming charts. The Pete Berg-directed series, written by The Revenant scribe Mark. L. Smith, reached the No. 1 TV spot in the U.S. with its first 24 hours on Netflix, and has maintained that position in the days since. It currently beats out the likes of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, WWE Raw, Squid Game, and Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action to claim the top spot. But American Primeval’s success reaches further than that. According to FlixPatrol data, as of Jan. 15, the series ranks No. 2 among all shows currently streaming on Netflix across the globe, only falling behind Squid Game.

In addition to sitting high on streaming charts, American Primeval – which has logged 10.4 million views and 52.4 million hours viewed, per Netflix’s Tudum – is earning rave reviews from critics and viewers alike, and is rated fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 63% critics score and 88% audience score. Writing for Loud and Clear Reviews, Keeley Brooks said the series “is America at its least romantic and its most brutal, and it’s one of the best gritty Westerns out there. You shouldn’t wait one minute longer to see it.”

While Netflix may have a massive hit on its hands that seems to rival the record-breaking Yellowstone, fans shouldn’t get too eager for a second season. American Primeval debuted as a limited series, meaning a second season may not be on the table. However, Berg told Decider, “I do think there are many ways that we could go. 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.” Berg added that if the show’s Indigenous consultant Julie O’Keefe “will come back, I’d be up for discussing it.”

American Primeval is available to stream on Netflix.