At the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour today AMC did a Q&A; with the cast and creators of their new ongoing series, Hell on Wheels. The network behind Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and The Killing are now venturing into the western genre – though the producers joked that technically, there story is an "eastern," as it takes place in the 1800s on the eastern side of the United States, following the building of the Transcontinental railroad.

Said co-creator Tony Gayton about what drew him to the subject matter, "One of the things that really caught me is it's just so American – the idea of a tent city that picks up and moves [while building the railroad]. It's violent and given to vices and gambling, but there's churches there." His brother, co-creator Joe Gayton mentioned that Abraham Lincoln – who is dead by the time the series begins -- had promised a transcontinental railroad would be built, noting there are some strong correlations to "JFK saying we're going to get a man on the moon by the end of the decade."

Joe remarked that they were intent on crafting complex characters, saying, "They all have a lot of good in them and a lot of bad in them." This is apparent in the show's central character, Cullen Bohannan (Anson Mount), who in some respects is the classic Western badass, who is intent on avenging the murder of his wife. But Cullen was also a slave-owner before the Civil War.

Another character, Elam (Common), is a former slave, who discovers that while he technically may not be a slave any longer, that doesn't mean he and his comrades aren't treated almost as badly as they were before by men who are now, technically, their bosses. Common said he felt, "a true responsibility to portray what black Americans were at the time." Meanwhile, an interesting element of the series is the relationship between Elam and Cullen. Said Common, "There's something there that I respect about him," even as the actors stressed that the idea was not to have it quickly turn into a mismatched buddy story.

The panelists were asked about the inevitable comparisons to Deadwood, given that is the only notable western series in the past few years (sorry, Dr. Quinn). Said Joe, "If they're favorable comparisons to Deadwood, we'll take them, but we really wanted this to be different." The producers brought up again how their show follows these characters as they slowly move across the country, and Tony also noted, "The language in Deadwood was very beautiful but very stylized. I think there's much more naturalistic dialogue in this."

Cast member Colm Meany ("Thomas 'Doc' Durant") said he was very attracted to Hell on Wheels, remarking, "This kind of writing doesn't happen anymore. It's epic, wonderful stuff to sink your teeth into it."

While the focus in Hell on Wheels Is intended to be on character, executive producer John Shiban promised that they would touch upon classic tropes, saying Hell on Wheels has, "Gunfights and everything that you would want. It's huge and epic in that way and everything you want in a Western."

Hell on Wheels premieres this fall on AMC.

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