Before the cast of "Hell on Wheels" got down and dirty filming Season 3 of AMC's Western drama, they gussied up and posed for some amazing portraits that look like they actually came right out of 1867. When "Hell on Wheels" returns with a two-hour premiere beginning at 8 p.m. CT Aug. 10, Cullen Bohannon will lead the denizens of the traveling railroad town Hell on Wheels and the Union Pacific in the race across the country against the Central Pacific Railroad. This photo gallery includes the portraits, other posed shots and some images from the two-hour premiere.
By Curt Wagner, RedEye's Show Patrol
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A former Confederate soldier still haunted by his past, Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) made a home in Hell on Wheels hunting down the men responsible for slaughtering his family. Following the murder of Lily Bell and an Indian attack that destroyed Hell on Wheels, Cullen spends a long winter in a burned-out caboose, reshaping his lust for revenge into a burning ambition -- to take control of the Union Pacific and drive it across the country. In the process, he begins to rediscover the man he might have been had war and tragedy not intervened. — Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC, June 2, 2013
Elam Ferguson (Common) is an emancipated slave coming to terms with the risks, responsibilities, and limitations of his newly-acquired freedom. Empowered by Bohannon with a gun and a badge, he finds himself torn between his responsibility to his job and his responsibility to his woman and their new baby. — Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC, June 2, 2013
Former Indian captive-turned-whore Eva (Robin McLeavy) moves in with Elam after she gives birth to a baby girl. Dissatisfied with domestic life and uncertain whether Elam or her late husband, Gregory Toole, is the father of her child, her world is thrown further into chaos when Toole's brother arrives from New York with his own honorable intentions toward her and the baby. — Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC , June 2, 2013
Thomas 'Doc' Durant (Colm Meaney), based on the real-life railroad impresario, is an entrepreneur taking full advantage of the changing times. After the Union Pacific board throws him off the railroad, Durant schemes to regain control and reclaim his rightful place in history, lining his pockets all the while. Unfortunately for him, Cullen Bohannon's own ambition stands in his way. — Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC , June 2, 2013
The Swede (Christopher Heyerdahl) is a mysterious Norwegian immigrant whose fixation with Cullen drove him to murder Lily Bell. After escaping Bohannon's retribution by surviving a fall from the bridge, he finds himself riding west with a Mormon family, inventing a new identity and worming his way ever closer to a final confrontation with his nemesis, Cullen Bohannon. — Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC, June 2, 2013
Estranged daughter of the deceased Reverend Cole, Ruth (Kasha Kropinski) decides to stay in Hell on Wheels after inheriting his ministry upon his death. She matures into an appealing, compassionate minister and sets about creating an oasis in the debauched railroad town. She becomes Cullen's trusted confidant as he searches his own soul for answers to the hollowness that has taken residence there. — Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC , June 2, 2013
A young Irish Catholic immigrant who¿s come west to find fortune with his brother Mickey, Sean McGinnes (Ben Esler) finds himself estranged from him after his unrequited infatuation with Protestant minister Ruth Cole drove a wedge between them. Now working as Bohannon's railroad accountant, Sean finds his loyalties divided once again after Durant recruits him to work as his spy in Hell on Wheels. — Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC, June 2, 2013
Micky McGinnes (Philip Burke) After distancing himself from his brother, Mickey becomes sole owner and proprietor of Hell on Wheels' new whorehouse and saloon: The Phoenix. As the railroad moves west, he labors to keep his business afloat while seizing on new opportunities, growing into one of the town¿s most influential voices. — Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC, June 2, 2013
Louise Ellison (Jennifer Ferrin), a strong-willed reporter for The New York Tribune, is dispatched to Hell on Wheels by editor Horace Greeley to cover the building of the transcontinental railroad. Struggling to come to terms with her "excommunication" from New York, she learns that "right" and "wrong" are concepts too simple to apply to the world of Hell on Wheels -- the Sodom and Gomorrah of the Nebraska plains. — Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC , June 2, 2013
After escaping his plantation's destruction toward the end of the Civil War, Psalms (Dohn Norwood) was arrested for "vagrancy" and his sentence was sold to Thomas Durant and the Union Pacific. An outspoken, diligent worker, Psalms takes every opportunity to stand up for himself and his fellow freedmen. Appointed walking boss of the railroad's "cut crew," Psalms becomes Elam's sounding board and takes a fierce pride in his role as de facto uncle of Elam's new baby. — Chris Large/AMC, April 26, 2013
Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) and Elam Ferguson (Common) — Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC, June 2, 2013
Sean McGinnes (Ben Esler) and Micky McGinnes (Philip Burke) — Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC, June 2, 2013
Elam Ferguson (Common) and Ruth (Kasha Kropinski) — Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC, June 2, 2013
Ruth (Kasha Kropinski) and Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) — Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC, June 2, 2013
Louise Ellison (Jennifer Ferrin), Thomas 'Doc' Durant (Colm Meaney) and Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) — Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC, June 2, 2013
Eva (Robin McLeavy) and Thomas 'Doc' Durant (Colm Meaney) — Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC , June 2, 2013
Louise Ellison (Jennifer Ferrin) and Eva (Robin McLeavy) — Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC, June 2, 2013
