What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedHell on Wheels
Tony Gayton · Series · 2011
If you loved Hell on Wheels, start with Seraphim Falls (2007) — a film on the same thread. Below: 4 books, 4 films and 2 podcasts, each matched to Hell on Wheels across media.
What hooked you in Hell on Wheels was the way personal vengeance and moral ambiguity collide against the backdrop of shifting American frontiers.
Books on the same thread
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead · Book · 2018
Shares a thread with Hell on Wheels: Survival.
Like the brutal struggle for survival in Hell on Wheels, this narrative captures the harrowing quest for freedom and the raw, unforgiving reality of the American landscape during reconstruction.
Lonesome Dove
Larry McMurtry · Book · 1988
Shares a thread with Hell on Wheels: Manifest Destiny.
You will find the same expansive, dust-choked ambition present in Hell on Wheels as these characters navigate the treacherous and transformative journey across the wild, untamed American frontier.
Colter's Journey
William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone · Book
Explores: frontier justice, survivalism, familial duty.
If you enjoyed the relentless drive for vengeance in Hell on Wheels, this story offers a similarly gritty exploration of frontier justice and the cost of protecting one's kin.
The Last Wagon Train
William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone · Book
Explores: frontier justice, legacy, corporate greed.
Just as the railroad construction defined the conflict in Hell on Wheels, this tale focuses on the tense power struggle between an individual and the encroaching forces of corporate greed.
Films on the same thread
Once Upon a Time in the West
Film · 1968
Shares a thread with Hell on Wheels: Revenge.
This film mirrors the industrial expansion and lawless atmosphere of Hell on Wheels, centering on the inevitable collision between personal vendettas and the unstoppable progress of the transcontinental railroad.
Hell or High Water
David Mackenzie · Film · 2016
Shares a thread with Hell on Wheels: Moral ambiguity.
This modern take captures the same desperation and fraternal bond found in Hell on Wheels, grounding its high-stakes tension in the harsh economic realities of a changing American landscape.
How the West Was Won
Henry Hathaway · Film · 1962
Shares a thread with Hell on Wheels: Manifest Destiny.
Much like the sweeping historical scope of Hell on Wheels, this epic examines the complex, often violent process of westward expansion through the eyes of those living it.
Seraphim Falls
Film · 2007
Shares 3 threads with Hell on Wheels: Revenge, Survival, Revisionist Western.
This film echoes the post-Civil War trauma and singular focus on vengeance that defined Cullen Bohannon in Hell on Wheels, set against a brutal, unforgiving natural environment.
Podcasts on the same thread
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
Dan Carlin · Podcast · 2026
Shares a thread with Hell on Wheels: moral ambiguity.
If you appreciated the moral ambiguity of Hell on Wheels, this long-form analysis provides a similarly deep, thoughtful look at the consequences of power and the nature of collapse.
S-Town
Serial Productions · Podcast · 2024
Explores: small-town isolation, eccentricity, social decay.
This investigative journey into social decay captures the same sense of isolation and intense, character-driven conflict that made the lawless frontier of Hell on Wheels so compelling to watch.
Keep exploring
Common questions
What is the historical setting of Hell on Wheels?
Hell on Wheels is set in post-Civil War America. The narrative follows the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, focusing on the lawless, mobile town that moves alongside the workers building this unprecedented engineering feat across the American West.
What is the primary motivation for Cullen Bohannon in Hell on Wheels?
Cullen Bohannon is a former Confederate soldier who serves as the protagonist of Hell on Wheels. His primary motivation throughout the series is to exact revenge on the specific Union soldiers responsible for the death of his wife.
Is Hell on Wheels based on a true historical event?
Hell on Wheels depicts the construction of the first transcontinental railroad in post-Civil War America. While the show features the fictional character Cullen Bohannon, it frames his journey within the historical reality of the dangerous and lawless towns that serviced the railroad construction project.
What kind of environment is Hell on Wheels?
Hell on Wheels describes a raucous, dangerous, and lawless melting pot of a town. This settlement travels westward to support the labor force and infrastructure needs of the workers building the first transcontinental railroad during the period following the Civil War.