Netflix Had a Brutally Violent Western That Was Even Better 'American Primeval' Years Ago

Netflix Had a Brutally Violent Western That Was Even Better 'American Primeval' Years Ago Jack O'Connell as Roy Goode on GodlessImage via Netflix By  Amanda M. Castro Published 6 minutes ago

Amanda M. Castro is a Network TV writer at Collider and a journalist based in New York. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Amanda is a bilingual Latina who graduated from the University of New Haven with a degree in Communication, Film, and Media Studies. She covers the world of network television, focusing on sharp, thoughtful analysis of the shows and characters that keep audiences tuning in week after week. At Collider, Amanda dives into the evolving landscape of network TV — from long-running procedural favorites to ambitious new dramas — exploring why these stories matter and how they connect with viewers on a cultural level.

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When Netflix dropped Godless back in 2017, the streamer positioned it as a prestige western with a stacked cast and cinematic scope. Eight years later, with American Primeval making news for its grim frontier violence, it is good to remember that Scott Frank's seven-episode miniseries did this same thing then — and, quite frankly, did it better. Godless is brutal, sprawling, sometimes achingly intimate, and still one of Netflix's most fearless attempts at stitching the "west" back into something relevant for our times.

What To Know About 'Godless'

Merritt Wever and Michelle Dockery as Mary Agnes and Alice wearing cowboy hats and holding guns in 'Godless.' Image via Casey Silver Productions

Godless takes place in New Mexico in 1884, and it begins with a remarkable near-silent sequence: An entire town has been slaughtered, bodies covering the ground as if they had run out into the street to escape their fate. The horror of the background looming behind the scenes almost sinks into your gut before one word is said. The butcherer is Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels), a man of God whose gang has roamed the West like a plague from the Bible. He is looking for one man — Roy Goode (Jack O'Connell), the son he never had, who finally abandoned him after one atrocity too many.

Goode bolts with the gang’s stolen payroll and stumbles, half-dead, onto the ranch of Alice Fletcher (Michelle Dockery), a twice-widowed homesteader raising her young son and navigating a world where the frontier kills the men first and the women clean up afterward.

That theme — survival after loss — is baked into the fabric of La Belle, a nearby mining town almost entirely populated by widows after a catastrophic mine collapse wiped out the male workforce. It’s this setting that gives Godless its hook: a western where the women hold the power by necessity, not novelty, and where the looming threat of Griffin’s return forces them to decide just how far they’re willing to go to defend themselves.

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Frank originally conceived Godless as a feature film, but Steven Soderbergh urged him to turn it into a miniseries instead. That is the good news—it means it has a big-feeling show (with extended run times, expansive landscapes, and high-stakes flashbacks)—but the show's life and death come down to small, human beats.

Yes, you get the classic (and genuinely necessary) western motifs: The amputation scene, the horse-breaking scene, the silhouette of the lone rider against the overarching sky on the vista of the frontier. But, it has and is the quieter, more human things that linger in the memory, such as Roy Goode teaching Alice’s son how to shoot, Mary Agnes (Merritt Wever) stepping into a leadership role with dry wit and sharper resolve, or Sheriff Bill McNue (Scoot McNairy) confronting his own failing eyesight while trying to do right by a town that barely trusts him.

Critics at the time pointed out the show’s tendency to sprawl — sometimes too much — but almost everyone agreed that the characters, especially the women of La Belle, carry a depth that most modern westerns don’t even attempt.

A Stellar Cast Elevates Every Corner of La Belle in 'Godless'

Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Whitey wearing a white hat and shirt with a star on it in 'Godless.'Image via Casey Silver Productions

Even by Netflix’s prestige standards, the cast of Godless is stacked with actors delivering career-level work. Daniels is terrifying in a role that could have tipped into cartoon villainy, grounding Griffin in contradictions and quiet menace. Dockery sheds Downton Abbey’s polish to play Alice with bruised strength and prickly vulnerability. O’Connell makes Roy Goode — an outlaw, yes, but fundamentally a lost kid who grew up in violence — into the show’s reluctant moral center.

And then there’s Wever, whose Mary Agnes practically hijacks the series through sheer force of personality. Her mix of swagger, humor, and heartbreak is the closest Godless gets to a truly modern-feeling character, and she gives the series its most grounded emotional anchor.

Even the supporting cast adds texture: Thomas Brodie-Sangster’s fearless young deputy, McNairy’s wounded sheriff, Tantoo Cardinal’s steady, stoic presence as Alice’s mother-in-law, and Sam Waterston as a weary U.S. Marshal who has seen too many bodies in too many towns.

Why ‘Godless’ Is Worth Watching Today

Michelle Dockery as Alice Fletcher, wearing a face cover and riding a brown horse in GodlessImage via Netflix

Part of Godless’ relevance comes down to timing. With American Primeval leaning into frontier extremity and visions of America forged in violence, viewers are already primed for darker westerns with high emotional stakes. But Godless distinguishes itself by embracing violence without losing sight of the people affected by it.

It’s a series that digs into the genre’s staples — gunslingers, outlaws, revenge — while making space for stories rarely centered in traditional westerns: queer relationships, gender hierarchy flips, Indigenous characters with agency, and the everyday grief of women rebuilding after endless loss. The series isn’t flawless. Its ambition sometimes outweighs its clarity, and the narrative size can feel stretched thin. But even its imperfections underline just how rich and daring its world is — few Netflix productions since have matched its blend of scale, character detail, and old-school western grit.

Godless is a sharper version of the type of story the newer show is trying to tell — heavier on emotional honesty, lighter on spectacle for spectacle’s sake, and unafraid to sit with the uglier truths of the American frontier.

Godless TV-MA Western Drama Release Date 2017 - 2017-00-00

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