Netflix viewers say new gritty western drama is 'best thing they've seen in a long time'

Netflix fans have hailed an 'ugly' new western series the 'best they've seen' in a long time.

But be warned - it's not for the faint hearted.

Written by Mark L. Smith, it's based loosely based on the real-life Utah War of 1857, with Smith also being the writer behind 2015's The Revenant - if that gives you any indication of how brutal this new series is.

In fact, this new project is set 50 years after Leonardo DiCaprio's harrowing fight for survival in the present-day Dakotas.

The series released on January 9 (Netflix)

Helmed by director and executive producer Pete Berg, Taylor Kitsch, Betty Gilpin, Kim Coates, Shea Whigham, Saura Lightfoot-Leon and Shawnee Pourier lead the western, which is currently at the top of the US Netflix TV charts.

The series tells the story of an armed confrontation between Mormon settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the US government.

The first episode depicts the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which saw a reported 120 pioneers killed by a militia that included Mormon settlers.

You can watch the trailer below:

Fans have since taken to social media to praise the show, hailing it 'top tier TV', but trust me, you need a strong stomach for those bloody fight scenes.

Posting to Twitter, one person said: "We may only be nine days into the year, but episode one of #AmericanPrimeval delivers an all-timer of an action set piece.

"Brutal, ugly, chaotic. Peter Berg is a vastly underrated director."

A second agreed: "3 hours in on American Primeval... One of the best series I've watched in a long time... Top tier TV."

A third said: "American Primeval on Netflix so damn good. They did their best s**t with this series."

Executive producer Eric Newman previously told Netflix Tudum what he hopes viewers will take away from the series.

The brutal series has had viewers hooked (Netflix)

“I think human triumph, the reinforcement of the good that people are capable of, is very important to me as it is to Pete,” says Newman. “The other part of what matters to me is the importance of an anti-nostalgic, truthful look at our history.

"I was a big Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States fan because it was the first time I was confronted with what I believed to be the truth."

He continued: "That these rose-colored glasses in which we view the past, from the first Thanksgiving onward, is a lie. It’s a lie meant to make us feel good about this really rugged, brutal path that we’ve taken.”

He adds: “I think we do a disservice to ourselves by looking at it in that way because it prevents us from seeing it [happening] again.”

American Primeval is available to stream now on Netflix.