Director Peter Berg was inspired to create the series after reading about the Utah War and the Mountain Meadows Massacre and began researching the events.

Berg and writer Mark L. Smith met with authors of books about the Mountain Meadows Massacre and visited the massacre site to gain a comprehensive understanding of how the event unfolded.

The show incorporates real historical figures such as Jim Bridger, Brigham Young, and Wild Bill Hickman alongside fictional storylines, and used an Indigenous consultant, Julie O'Keefe, during development.

Filming took place in New Mexico starting in February 2023, but production was interrupted by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.

Lead actor Taylor Kitsch suffered a broken foot during production.

The shoot lasted 130 days, of which only two days were filmed on indoor sets, with locations including Cochiti Pueblo, Santa Clara Pueblo, Pajarito Ski Mountain, Bonanza Creek Ranch, and Charles R Ranch.

To build the show's version of Fort Bridger, the set builders used only tools that would have been available in the 1800s.

The score was composed by the post-rock band Explosions in the Sky, who had previously collaborated with director Peter Berg on the film Friday Night Lights (2005) and Lone Survivor (2013).

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints publicly condemned the series as 'dangerously misleading,' criticizing its portrayal of the Mountain Meadows Massacre and calling the depiction of Brigham Young 'egregiously mischaracterized.'