Netflix's American Primeval series sets itself in the real-life conflict of the Utah War, but that does not necessarily mean characters like Abish Pratt were actual people.
The new historical drama depicts the oft-forgotten conflict during expansion into the American West, following the events that lead up to the blood-spattered Mountain Meadow's Massacre.
The 1857 conflict saw a militia of Mormon Church members murder a group of pioneers along a well-known wagon trail and pin the murder on local Indigenous tribes (known as the Paiutes). The series includes real people like the Mormon leader Brigham Young but takes a few liberties.
Was Abish Pratt From American Primeval a Real Person?
Saura Lightfoot-Leon plays Abish Pratt, a prominent character in the American Primeval story; however, the character may not have been involved in the real-life conflict.
Leon's character is the emotional drive of one particular narrative thread in the hit Netflix series. A Mormon woman, she lives amongst the Shoshone tribe after a raid by what seemed to be local Native Americans on her pioneer caravan.
This sends her husband, Jacob (played by The Amazing Spider-Man 2's Dane DeHaan), on a quest to find his long-lost wife, resulting in him getting intertwined with a group of fellow Mormon Church members who seem to be hiding a deadly secret.
Looking at history, Abish was not an actual person present during the Utah War of 1857 but more a thematic proxy for the tensions of the time.
Being a Mormon herself and now living alongside the Shoshone people, Abish is the primary avatar for the audience in understanding Mormong-Indigenous relations during that time.
In reality, only young children were spared during the deadly Mountain Meadows Massacre, so there is no way someone like Abish would have been left alive as she was in the series.
Speaking with Decider, American Primeval star Derek Hinkey (who plays the Shoshone who saves Abish, Red Feather) claimed his character saved Abish because he saw she was "brave" and respected her because of that:
"Big respect. I think he’s seen that, in especially in this time and in my warrior culture, she was defiant. She was brave, you know? He’s seen that, recognized that and was intrigued by it. But he really, really, really respected that."
Abish ends up playing a key role in helping the Shoshone stand up against the local Mormon aggressors, helping to lead the Indigenous group into battle after they were seemingly framed for the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Though Abish is a creation of the series, her presence was real. She depicts the relationship and tensions between the Mormon pioneers and the local Indigenous peoples of Southern Utah in the 1800s.
American Primeval is streaming on Netflix.
