In the behind-the-scenes video, he walks me through a well-dressed set before a stunt ceiling collapse.

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AMC has announced the renewal of Hell on Wheels for a second season. The original series reigns as the second highest rated series on AMC, averaging 3.2 million viewers and 1.5 million Adults 25-54.* Season one’s finale is Sunday, January 15th at 10pm EST. Hell on Wheels is created and written by Joe and Tony Gayton, who also serve as executive producers. John Shiban, Jeremy Gold, Endemol’s SVP of scripted programming and David Von Ancken, who also directed the pilot, serve as executive producers. The series is executive produced by Endemol USA with Entertainment One serving as the studio. eOne’s Television CEO John Morayniss and EVP series television Michael Rosenberg oversee production in partnership with co-producers Mike Frislev and Chad Oakes at Nomadic Pictures.

Hell on Wheels tells the epic story of post-Civil War America, focusing on a Confederate soldier (Anson Mount) who sets out to exact revenge on the Union soldiers who have 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. It examines the railroad’s institutionalized greed and corruption, the immigrant experience, and the plight of the newly emancipated African-Americans during reconstruction. Over time, Hell on Wheels chronicles this potent turning point in our nation’s history, and how uncivilized the business of civilization can be.

Hell on Wheels stars Anson Mount as Cullen Bohannon, a former soldier hell bent on avenging his wife’s death; Colm Meaney as Thomas “Doc” Durant, a greedy entrepreneur taking full advantage of the changing times; musician/actor Common as Elam Ferguson, an emancipated slave working to achieve true freedom in a world entrenched in prejudice; Dominique McElligott as Lily Bell, a newly widowed woman trying to survive in a man’s world; Tom Noonan as Reverend Cole; Ben Esler as Sean McGinnes and Philip Burke as Mickey McGinnes, two young brothers looking to find their fortune in the new West; and Eddie Spears as Joseph Black Moon, a Native American man torn between his culture and the changing world around him.

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Via The Hollywood Reporter:

Westerns have continued to pay off for AMC.

Sunday’s premiere of its post-Civil War Western Hell on Wheels, directed by Content Creator, David Von Ancken, opened to a 3.1 household rating and 4.4 million viewers, becoming the network’s second-highest series premiere in history, following The Walking Dead.

Among key demographics, the Anson Mount starrer created by brothers Joe and Tony Gayton delivered 2.4 million viewers in adults 18-49, second to the Season 2 premiere of the network’s Robert Kirkman zombie drama. Among adults 25.54, Sunday’s Hell on Wheels premiere delivered 2.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

“I congratulate the entire cast and crew of Hell on Wheels for pulling off a project of this scope,” AMC president Charlie Collier said in a statement Monday.

“Bringing the grandeur of the Old West and the building of the railroad to life is no small feat and the Gaytons, with their team, have delivered a beautiful world of which we are all so proud,” he added. “We look forward to sharing the lives of these characters in the weeks and months to come.”

AMC’s 2006 Western miniseries Broken Trail — the network’s first original scripted effort — stands as its biggest commercial success and highest rated original project, collecting 9.8 million total viewers.

Meanwhile, the fourth episode of The Walking Dead rebounded from its third episode dip and provided a stellar lead-in to Hell on Wheels, drawing 6.3 million total viewers at 9 p.m. and a 4.2 household rating. In the demos, Dead drew 4.3 million viewers in 18-49 and 3.7 million among adults 25-54.

By Lesley Goldberg

Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-ratings-hell-wheels-opens-258303

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Hear from the cast and crew of AMC’s newest series which centers on former Confederate soldier Cullen Bohannon, whose quest for vengeance leads him to the construction of the first transcontinental railroad.

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Via The Hollywood Reporter:

Long considered a dormant TV format, the Western series could be making a big return to the small screen. In addition to AMC’s Hell on Wheels, which bows in November and is set amid the building of the Union Pacific Railroad in the 1860s, the genre has become one of the most in-demand in TV development circles during the current cycle.

TNT recently ordered to pilot Gateway, an action-adventure set in 1880s Colorado, from executive producer Bruce C. McKenna (The Pacific). ABC nabbed Gunslinger from David Zabel (Detroit 1-8-7) and Hangtown, a procedural pitch set in the Wild West, from Battlestar Galactica mastermind Ron Moore. CBS and author Nicholas Pileggi (GoodFellas) are prepping Ralph Lamb, based on the 1960s adventures of a real-life cowboy-turned-Las Vegas sheriff, and NBC has ordered a script for Shaun Cassidy‘s 1840s-set The Frontier.

“They’re simple, emotional stories that you can make sense of in the context of the world,” AMC senior vp original programming Joel Stillerman says of the appeal. It doesn’t hurt that True Grit, the Western movie remake starring Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon, grossed more than $250 million in the winter, making it the second-highest-grossing Western ever. Hell on Wheels follows AMC’s 2006 Western miniseries Broken Trail, its first original scripted effort and still its biggest commercial success. “Writers are hunting for ‘what’s next’ always,” says a TV agent, noting that it has been a tough year to sell sci-fi and comic book fare given the “uncertain future” of fall series Grimm, The River and Terra Nova.

To be sure, the latest crop is filled with twists on the traditional formula that proliferated in the early days of TV with such series as Gunsmoke and The Rifleman. For instance, NBC sister studio Universal TV has set up an untitled Western told from a female perspective from Peter Berg and fellow Friday Night Lights producers. Zabel’s series also centers on a female hero.

The knock on dust-and-tumbleweeds dramas is that they are “distinctly American,” as one source puts it, which can hurt internationally. What’s more, the genre is often criticized for older-skewing viewership, hardly the coveted demo of deep-pocketed advertisers. But the appeal of the Western seems timeless. Says Stillerman, “There’s usually a good guy and a bad guy, relatively clear moral boundaries, and aesthetically it’s a beautiful genre.”

By Lacey Rose

Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/amc-s-hell-wheels-leads-239791

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Via The Hollywood Reporter:

AMC’s upcoming drama Hell on Wheels has a premiere date.

The network announced that the Western starring Anson Mount, Common and Colm Meaney will begin airing on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 10 p.m. Ben Esler, Philip Burke and Eddie Spears co-star in the Joe and Tony Gayton-created drama.

Hell on Wheels, set in post-Civil War America, examines the struggles and hardships of rebuilding and repairing the country after the war. The series revolves around Confederate soldier Cullen Bohannon (Mount), who seeks revenge for the death of his wife.

“Since Broken Trail, AMC has looked for the next expression of an original Western series. Hell on Wheels is an incredibly powerful story that captures the intensity and inspiration of the American West at a time when nothing less than the future of the nation was at stake,” said Joel Stillerman, senior vice president of original programming, production and digital content at AMC.

Jeremy Gold, John Shiban and David Von Ancken will exeutive produce with the Gaytons. Co-executive producing the series is Paul Kurta.

By Philiana Ng

Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/amc-announces-premiere-date-hell-216589

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Hell on Wheels tells the epic story of post-Civil War America, focusing on a Confederate soldier (Mount) who sets out to exact revenge on the Union soldiers who have 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. The series documents the railroad’s incredible feat of engineering and construction as well as the institutionalized greed and corruption, the immigrant experience, and the plight of the newly emancipated African-Americans during reconstruction.  Over time, “Hell on Wheels” chronicles this potent turning point in our nation’s history, and how uncivilized the business of civilization can be.

In addition to Mount, Hell on Wheels stars musician/actor Common (Date Night) as Elam, Dominique McElligott (The Philanthropist) as Lily Bell, Colm Meaney (The Conspirator) as Durant, Ben Esler (The Pacific) as Sean McGinnes, Philip Burke (Mercy) as Mickey McGinnes and Eddie Spears (Into the West) as Brother Joseph.

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