As actress Kim Coates (Bad blood, Sons of Anarchy) got the call to play the real-life historical figure Young, he received an immediate response. “It was the offer of a lifetime,” Coates tells Tudum. “I've wanted to work with (director) Pete Berg for a long time. I knew how difficult it would be to live as this real historical figure. We actors like to throw around the phrase, 'I've never played someone like that before,' but I've really never played a character like Brigham Young before, someone who people immediately recognize just by his name.”

Coates delved into research and read two biographies about Young – Brigham Young: pioneer prophet And The Prophet and the Reformer: The Letters of Brigham Young and Thomas L. Kane – as well as The twenty-seventh womanthe story of Young's wife, who divorced him.

Coates adds, “I also spoke to two people in my life with whom I have a personal connection and who are long-time members of the Mormon Church. They opened their doors to me and were generous with their knowledge. This helped me feel more like this man that I'm nothing like in real life. I wanted to know everything about Young, and it was a difficult journey at times.”

Establishing Young's physicality was key to Coates' trial. “I usually start from the inside out,” he says. “I start from the inside and then work my way to how they look, how they walk, how they talk. That was different. I needed his physicality.”

Coates learned that Young was known to have piercing blue eyes and an intense gaze. He was also smaller and heavier, so Coates gained weight for the role. The actor dyed his infamous dark hair strawberry blonde and wore mutton chops after learning Young couldn't grow facial hair. He adapted a Mid-Atlantic accent for the role—there are no audio recordings of Young's speeches, but he relied on an 1890s recording of a Mormon prophet as a starting point—and worked closely on the costumes, hair, and makeup Teams design Young's look.

“It was a wonderful collaboration. How many vests would he have? How clean would it be? The top hat was a very important costume element,” says Coates. “The wardrobe was just crucial for me and I felt very comfortable in it, even though it was all made of wool. If anyone wanted to dress well, it was Brigham Young. The wardrobe definitely helped me play this guy to no end.”

By playing a historical and religious figure, particularly one who makes divisive decisions throughout the series' narrative, Coates frames his character as neither a hero nor a villain. Like all the characters in American prehistoric eraYoung fights for his own survival and that of his people, no matter the cost.

“As an actor you have to make decisions,” he says. “Things start at the top and spread downward, and we must not shy away from the evil or the good in our history. And this particular story has a bit of both and it contains some lessons that we can and should learn from. But boy, it was hard to survive in 1857. I don’t know how anyone managed it.”

As Young tries to consolidate the Mormon stronghold in Utah, a large part of his strategy revolves around Fort Bridger, owned by Jim Bridger (Shea Whigham). President James Buchanan and the U.S. government, at odds with the Mormons and their growing size and influence, are watching the group closely. Fort Bridger is critical to the U.S. Army's continued presence in the West, providing food, shelter and other necessary resources. Young is eager to buy Fort Bridger from its reluctant owner – meaning Coates shares a good chunk of screen time with Whigham.

“Shea is just amazing,” Coates says. “I can’t praise this guy enough as a talent and a friend. I couldn't have done this show without him. We play two completely opposite characters. When we got in the van to go to work every day, he was Jim Bridger and I was Brigham Young.”

Both Coates and Whigham were so dedicated to their characters that director Berg addressed them only by their character names during production.

“I don’t think I ever spoke to Kim Coates as Kim Coates,” Berg recalls. “Throughout filming it was just Brigham Young. He had come to bring that hair, makeup, clothes and attitude and I would call him Governor Young. He would just stay in character all day. I found it extraordinary. The same goes for Shea Whigham as Jim Bridger. Basically, he was in character from the moment he got there. I haven't spoken to Kim, I haven't spoken to Shea. I talked to Brigham Young and Jim Bridger, which I like because then it’s all about the work.”

“I guess I radiated Brigham Young with the boots, the coat and the top hat,” Coates says with a laugh. “What Netflix did to bring all these people together was paramount for us to then make the best show possible.”

American prehistoric era will be released on Netflix on January 9th.

Historical dramas now available to stream