section_path: Production/Development
section_name: Development
paragraph_text: Development
  
  The six-part series was written by Mark L. Smith and directed by Peter Berg. Berg, via Film 44, and Eric Newman, via Grand Electric, are executive producers. It was commissioned by Netflix in December 2022. Smith is also an executive producer on the series.
  
  Berg has said he was inspired to create the series after reading about the Utah War and the Mountain Meadows Massacre and started researching it. The series incorporates real events, such as the massacre depicted in the pilot, along with the stories of actual people who lived during the 1857 Utah War. Real-life characters such as Jim Bridger, a pioneer caught between warring factions; Brigham Young, the leader of the LDS Church who commanded his army known as the Nauvoo Legion; and Wild Bill Hickman, a lawman and a member of this militia, were incorporated. Berg and Smith met with authors of books about the Massacre and visited the massacre site to try to gain as comprehensive an understanding of how that event happened as possible. Julie O'Keefe served as the show's Indigenous consultant.
  
  The six-part series was written by Mark L. Smith and directed by Peter Berg. Berg, via Film 44, and Eric Newman, via Grand Electric, are executive producers. It was commissioned by Netflix in December 2022. Smith is also an executive producer on the series.
  
  Berg has said he was inspired to create the series after reading about the Utah War and the Mountain Meadows Massacre and started researching it. The series incorporates real events, such as the massacre depicted in the pilot, along with the stories of actual people who lived during the 1857 Utah War. Real-life characters such as Jim Bridger, a pioneer caught between warring factions; Brigham Young, the leader of the LDS Church who commanded his army known as the Nauvoo Legion; and Wild Bill Hickman, a lawman and a member of this militia, were incorporated. Berg and Smith met with authors of books about the Massacre and visited the massacre site to try to gain as comprehensive an understanding of how that event happened as possible. Julie O'Keefe served as the show's Indigenous consultant.