Season 2 of AMC's Alberta-lensed period western TV series, "Hell on Wheels" has now started filming the first week of an 80 day shoot. Most of the original cast have returned, with up to 300 local background performers working per day, alongside the predominately Alberta-based production crew.
Producers promise more "...racial strife and scarier battles with Native Americans. A race against the rival Central Pacific. It was basically an urban slum on the prairie and people died daily. Not only was it a tough job and the railway work very dangerous, but the town itself was very dangerous. That's our No. 1 priority this year, to make it a bigger, badder 'Hell on Wheels' that our characters have to swim through and deal with."
Created by Joe & Tony Gayton, "Hell On Wheels" is set in post-Civil War America, following former soldier 'Cullen Bohannan' (Anson Mount), whose "...quest for vengeance" has led him westward to work on the construction of the first US cross-country railroad.
According to Calgary producer Chad Oakes of Nomadic Pictures, location filming is currently 30 minutes southeast of the city along the Bow River, with interior shots to be lensed at a 56,000-square-foot makeshift studio in Calgary's northeast near the airport.
Producers promise more "...racial strife and scarier battles with Native Americans. A race against the rival Central Pacific. It was basically an urban slum on the prairie and people died daily. Not only was it a tough job and the railway work very dangerous, but the town itself was very dangerous. That's our No. 1 priority this year, to make it a bigger, badder 'Hell on Wheels' that our characters have to swim through and deal with."
Created by Joe & Tony Gayton, "Hell On Wheels" is set in post-Civil War America, following former soldier 'Cullen Bohannan' (Anson Mount), whose "...quest for vengeance" has led him westward to work on the construction of the first US cross-country railroad.
"...'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 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 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 US history, and how uncivilized the business of civilization can be..."
