Sons Of Anarchy's Kim Coates Played A Real Historical Figure In A Netflix Western Series
Truth is stranger than fiction - and historical figures can be just as villainous as anyone you see on TV. Need proof? Just ask Sons of Anarchy's Kim Coates.
Actor Kim Coates, renowned for his portrayal of Alexander "Tig" Trager in FX's Sons of Anarchy and its sequel Mayans M.C., also took on a significant role in the 2019 Netflix Western series American Primeval. The six-episode series, though fictionalized, was based on real historical events, including intersections with actual historical figures.
Coates played the role of Brigham Young, a prominent figure in the Church of Latter-day Saints and the first governor of the Utah Territory. This role was crucial as Young was involved in several conflicts involving Latter-day Saints, American settlers, and Native American tribes. He played the primary antagonist in American Primeval, driving the narrative towards the Mountain Meadows Massacre, a historical event that truly took place during the Utah War.
Despite Netflix's Western miniseries providing a morally complex depiction of historical events, it received criticism from certain factions within the Latter-day Saints community. The managing director of the Church History Department at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints took issue with the portrayal of Brigham Young, describing its accuracy as "deeply misguided."
The director acknowledged the complexity of the relationships and occasional violence between the Latter-day Saints and Utah's Indigenous tribes, but disagreed with the idea that Young was accurately portrayed. He pointed out that while Young's faith taught him to treat Indigenous peoples with dignity, the series ignored significant historical details such as Young's policy of selective extermination of Timpanogos men during the Fort Utah Massacre and his alleged direct command of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Furthermore, Young was also recognized as a white supremacist and a supporter of slavery. Therefore, while American Primeval took creative liberties with history, Coates' portrayal of Young was likely a fair representation of the first Governor of Utah Territory.
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