There have been Westerns on television for almost as long as there’s been television. Early on, series like “Gunsmoke” and “The Lone Ranger” brought big-screen actors to the small screen before the medium had even switched over to color. Simply put, shows that define the Western have been around for nearly a century, and even in recent years, series like “Breaking Bad” and “Justified” have innovated one of TV’s most prevalent genres.
Whereas plenty of Western series invent entirely original characters and towns, others harvest their narratives from the real-life history of the American West, both pre-20th century and post-turn of the millennium. Obviously, there’s no shortage of great stories to be told about real figures from the Wild West, from Bonnie and Clyde to Davy Crockett, but some of the best Westerns in television history take inspiration from the day-to-day lives of real American people or places.
These 10 shows may take occasional creative liberties or invent fictitious characters and events, but they’re also all based in some version of true history. While Western fans may be more accustomed to shows featuring high noon duels, train heists, and ghost towns, these TV shows take a more grounded approach to depicting the reality of life in the great outdoors.
10. Landman
In terms of 21st-century TV Westerns, there’s no one more prolific than Taylor Sheridan, whose co-creations include the Yellowstone franchise, as well as “Tulsa King,” “Mayor of Kingstown,” and “Lioness.” His arsenal of Paramount+ Westerns also includes the Billy Bob Thornton-led “Landman,” which centers on Tommy Norris, a modern-day oil tycoon forced to clean up the aftermath of an oil tanker accident that threatens to expose his company’s dealings with the Mexican cartel.
Although Tommy and other characters from the show are Sheridan’s fictitious creations, “Landman” takes a lot from the real-life history of oil drilling. Namely, the series credits the 2019 podcast “Boomtown,” about the Texas oil boom and its impact on deaths by tanker traffic, as its primary source of inspiration. Even accusations about how accurate “Landman” is throughout its run neglect some of the more blatant examples of reality inspiring art, especially in how involved the cartel is with the day-to-day lives of Texas oil companies.
The series has gotten tons of acclaim for being one of the juicier shows in Sheridan’s oeuvre, even improving in its second season in the writing behind the often two-dimensional female characters. Still, it’s no surprise the show is as much of a success as it is, given that “Landman” impressively puts an entire world unknown to most Americans on screen.
9. Billy the Kid
Of all the historical figures that lived in the American West, few have gained as legendary a reputation as Billy the Kid. Secondhand accounts of the young outlaw’s escapades in the territories of New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada have persisted throughout history, so it’s no wonder several television shows have fictionalized his incomplete story. Among those is MGM+’s “Billy the Kid,” starring Tom Blyth in the role of Henry McCarthy, the young man who’d adopt the titular alias.
Running for three seasons from 2022 to 2025, “Billy the Kid” starts in McCarthy’s youth and tracks his life all the way to his involvement in the Lincoln County War between corrupt politicians and rebelling ranchers. Though its commitment to historical fact is tenuous at best, “Billy the Kid” does a great job of humanizing the folk figure and his exploits, helmed by a strong performance from Blyth and direction that emphasizes the high-octane action of the Wild West.
Though it may not stack up against the best TV shows about American history, “Billy the Kid” is a necessary watch for anyone interested in the history of gunslingers. It has a modern, cinematic feel that’s miles above anything made about McCarthy in the Golden Age of movies. Though, it would be something to see Blyth’s Billy the Kid have his own iteration of “Billy the Kid Versus Dracula.”
8. Hell on Wheels
AMC has been home to some of the greatest neo-Westerns in recent television history, including “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul.” However, one of their more historically based Westerns has gone unrecognized by most television audiences. “Hell on Wheels” stars Anson Mount as Cullen Bohannon, an ex-Confederate colonel who becomes a foreman for the first transcontinental railroad in an America divided following the end of the Civil War and the assassination of President Lincoln.
Though Bohannon is a fictional character, he’s loosely based on real railroad foremen, namely John Casement and Grenville Dodge. Common also stars as the fictionalized Elam Ferguson, a former slave who becomes a bodyguard for Bohannon. Many characters in the series are fictional, with exceptions including interpretations of figures such as railroad investors Thomas Durant (Colm Meaney) and Collis Huntington (Tim Guinee). Despite having a mostly original story rather than adapting historical non-fiction, “Hell on Wheels” feels like a much more grounded Western than you’d often find on TV, though it doesn’t hold back on the gunslinging and post-secession tensions.
With the events of real-life railroad history serving as the backdrop for Bohannon’s story of revenge against the Union soldiers who killed his family, “Hell on Wheels” is strikingly accurate, with only some slight historical revisionism. Especially by the fifth season, when the show finally covers the role of Chinese immigrants in the railroad construction, it’s made its mark as a diverse, textured, and ultimately entertaining TV Western.
7. The English
“The English” is another show on this list that mainly follows fictional characters and original stories, but also draws heavy inspiration from real American history. That history concerns Pawnee cavalry scouts, who played an integral role in mediating the growing violent conflicts between westbound settlers and Native American tribes such as the Sioux or Cheyenne. Especially given the poor representation of Native Americans across the Western genre, “The English” stands out for its historical accuracy.
The BBC Two series mainly follows an English noblewoman, Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt), who seeks revenge against her son’s killer, and the Pawnee scout she allies herself with, Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer). The show covers a lot of ground in only six episodes, alluding in the series finale to the broader conflict between Native Americans and settlers, as well as the invention of the Western as a film genre. In that regard, “The English” is as much about the real-life history of the Western genre as it is about any real historical circumstances.
Of course, the show wouldn’t work at all were it not for Blunt and Spencer at the forefront, grounding their characters as more than just an odd pairing of Englishwoman and Pawnee killer. It might not be as informative as a straight-up documentary or biopic about characters involved in these conflicts, but “The English” nevertheless brilliantly tells a story about human resilience and fighting for justice.
6. Lawmen: Bass Reeves
Although most of Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount+ universe of Westerns are original stories, “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” is the exception that explores a rich figure in the history of the American frontier. David Oyelowo stars as the titular Bass Reeves, an escaped slave who goes on to become a U.S. deputy marshal responsible for capturing thousands of outlaws. The miniseries follows Reeves’ true story from enslavement to becoming one of the most prolific law enforcement figures of the Old West.
Of course, the series simply wouldn’t work if it weren’t for Oyelowo, who fills Reeves’ boots with magnetic charm and toughness; it’s a mystery why the actor has yet to do a big, blockbuster action movie. Among the other standout performances from the series is a juicy villain turn from Dennis Quaid as a rival U.S. marshal, as well as one of Donald Sutherland’s final roles as the notorious Judge Isaac C. Parker.
Though “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” is not as intricate as a biography book in telling the story of this remarkable gunslinger, there’s a strong case to be made that it’s one of the best Taylor Sheridan TV shows set in the Old West. When you’re looking for a true-to-life Western on TV, you want gunfights, outlaws, and frontier justice, and that’s what you get from this visually marvelous Paramount+ series.
5. Little House on the Prairie
At this point, it’s a little-known fun fact that “Little House on the Prairie” has a real-life origin. It’s based on a series of semi-autobiographical books by Laura Ingalls Wilder that chronicle her childhood in the 19th-century Midwest. However, the series is probably best known for its television adaptation that aired for nine seasons from 1974 to 1983, starring Michael Landon as Charles, the patriarch of the Ingalls family, who live on a quaint farm in Minnesota.
As a staple of TV in the late ’70s and early ’80s, “Little House on the Prairie” was an early example of comfort viewing. Viewers got to feel like they were quite literally growing up alongside Laura (Melissa Gilbert), Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson), and Carrie (played by twins Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush). Although it’s based on true stories from Wilder’s childhood in the American West, the Ingalls, at their core, feel like the prototypical late-20th-century American family.
From the pilot movie showcasing relations between settlers and Native Americans to the ending that blew up the entire town, “Little House on the Prairie” was a lot of television viewers’ first exposure to the realities of the American West, sans all the gunslinging and robbery. Though Netflix has just begun a new adaptation of Wilder’s books that premiered this past year, they have some pretty big shoes to fill.
4. The Lowdown
“The Lowdown” might not take place in the Old West, but it’s certainly got elements of Westerns reinterpreted for a modern-day setting. Ethan Hawke stars as Lee Raybon, a journalist whose investigative reporting about a corrupt local politician uncovers a larger conspiracy involving white nationalists attempting to seize Native American land. Its first season is an intriguing neo-noir set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, grounded by a magnetic performance from Hawke, though if you know anything about the actor’s work, that shouldn’t come as a surprise.
What is surprising, however, is the real-life origin of the series. Hawke’s character is loosely based on the late Lee Roy Chapman, an investigative journalist whose work uncovered difficult truths about Tulsa’s racial history. Although the characterization of Lee in “The Lowdown” feels more suited to Hawke’s own personality, creator Sterlin Harjo has cited the real-life activist and truth-teller as the primary inspiration for the series.
While Season 2 of “The Lowdown” is in the middle of its run as of this writing, Season 1 makes a strong argument for being one of the most underrated shows in the current TV landscape. Hawke aside, the show also boasts an incredible supporting cast, including Betty Gilpin, Keith David, Peter Dinklage, and Kyle MacLachlan. There aren’t many TV shows like “The Lowdown” that feel as relevant to modern political strife while still embodying the Western genre’s cowboy spirit.
3. American Primeval
Speaking of Betty Gilpin, the now Emmy-winning actress has been putting in work over the past few years, starring in television miniseries where her performance elevates the entire project. Among those titles is Netflix’s “American Primeval,” a Western drama in which she plays Sara Holloway, a woman wanted by law enforcement for the murder of her husband, who seeks the help of mountain man Isaac Reed (Taylor Kitsch) to escort her and her physically disabled son to his father in Utah.
Though the primary narrative of Sara and Isaac is fictitious, the show takes place amidst the real-life backdrop of the Utah War, an oft-forgotten conflict involving Mormon settlers who sought autonomy from the United States government. Namely, the show depicts the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the violent mass murder of Western settlers by a Mormon militia, which provides a deadly obstacle for Sara and Isaac on their journey west.
Between the show’s thrilling action sequences and stunning character work from Gilpin and others, “American Primeval” is one of the most underrated Netflix shows of all time. Though its accuracy and inclusion of Mormon figures such as Brigham Young (played by Kim Coates) have been protested by historians, on the whole, it’s a gritty depiction of how truly brutal traveling from point A to point B was amidst this incredibly volatile time in the country’s history.
2. The Good Lord Bird
“The Lowdown” isn’t Ethan Hawke’s only venture into the Western genre for television, although “The Good Lord Bird” is more of a traditional period piece. The Showtime series premiered in 2020, with Hawke starring as the notorious abolitionist John Brown, whose violent revolution against slavers in the mid-19th century saw him tried and hanged for treason in 1859. Though Brown and his adventures are fact, the series itself is based on a novel by James McBride, fictionalizing the story through the eyes of a young slave played by Joshua Caleb Johnson.
In addition to the appearance of iconic historical figures like Frederick Douglass (played by “Hamilton” alum Daveed Diggs) and Harriet Tubman (played by Zainab Jah), “The Good Lord Bird” features some of the best Western TV episodes of all time, offsetting its incredible action set pieces with strong character development, emotionally layered performances, and some genuinely surprising comedic punchiness.
Though some experts on John Brown’s history have raised an issue with the depiction of him in this series, there’s no denying it’s an excellent adaptation of itsfigure’s tragic fight for freedom. If all “The Good Lord Bird” did was get people to read more about John Brown’s heroic deeds, then it did its job
1. Deadwood
There isn’t really another show on television that deserves the No. 1 spot on this list other than “Deadwood.” The HBO drama ran for three seasons from 2004 to 2006, but while the show didn’t get a fourth season, a 2019 film provided closure for its story. The series is centered on the titular town in South Dakota that formed following Custer’s Last Stand in the 1870s. Ian McShane plays Al Swearengen, the corrupt owner of the local brothel, while Timothy Olyphant plays sheriff Seth Bullock, who becomes Al’s bitter rival in Deadwood’s rise from a mining camp to a governed territory.
Throughout all three seasons, “Deadwood” drew praise for its writing and performances, but also its revolutionary take on the Western genre. The episode-to-episode drama of “Deadwood” is largely political, though it features enough tropes of the Western aesthetic to keep you on the edge of your seat for the entire series. Of course, it’s not the Western show you should let your kids watch.
In addition to the primary drama between Seth and Al, “Deadwood” also features plenty of appearances from historical figures like Calamity Jane (Robin Weigert) and Wyatt Earp (Gale Harold). Sure, it doesn’t cover as juicy a story from the Old West as the crimes of Billy the Kid or the revolt of John Brown, but “Deadwood” does what no other Western TV show does better: depicts the origins of what we know today as American capitalism.
