WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for American Primeval.
Sara’s $1500 bounty inAmerican Primevalis worth a much higher amount nowadays.American Primevalis a new major Western streaming seriesthat was released on Netflix on June 02, 2025. The series takes place on the frontier of the American West in 1857, particularly in the somewhat lawless terrain of Utah.AmericanPrimevalshows early American settlers, cultists, and indigenous tribes as murderers and survivorsin a series of gruesome fights for control of the newly found territory.
American Primevalwas written by Mark L. Smith, who co-wrote the screenplay forThe Revenantwith Alejandro G. Iñárritu. Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights,Lone Survivor) directs all six episodes ofAmerican Primeval.Taylor Kitsch leads an ensemble cast, which featuresBetty Gilpin,Dane DeHaan,Saura Lightfoot-Leon, Shea Whigham, Lucas Neff, and Kim Coates. By theend ofAmerican Primeval, only a handful of the main characters are left alive. However,thanks to Issac, no one is able to cash the bounty on Sara.
The Bounty On Sara Is Over $50k Today
She was a high-value target for bounty hunters
According to theCPI Inflation Calculatorthat goes back to 1857, Sara’s $1500 bounty was worth roughly $54,395 by today’s standards. TheUS Bureau of Labor Statistics calculatoronly goes back to 1913 and works it out as being $48,289, so the roughly $54,000 number roughly aligns with that. Regardless,$1500 would have gone a very long way to anyone in 1857who had captured and turned in Sara based on these numbers.
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Although Issac could have turned on Sara at any time to collect the bounty for himself, he remained a steadfast protector for her, her son Devin, and the Shoshone runaway Two Moons. Unlike many of the characters inAmerican Primeval, Issac was not motivated by money and likely wouldn’t know what to do with it if he had any. Sara had been on the run from an abusive man in Philadelphia who she killed for her own protection. Still,the murder gave her a high bounty, one that she may not be able to shake in California.
It’s Easy To See Why So Many People Were Desperate To Claim Sara’s Bounty
$1500 would have been a huge payday for one job
That kind of money is huge, especially at that time in a situation and setting where people have very little and are constantly killing each other just trying to survive. While$1500 may not have been as much as Brigham Young offered Bridger for his fort, it was still plenty to spend on a variety of resources, from food and weapons to horses and even wagons. It makes sense that bounty hunters and others flocked like moths to a flame for Sara’s high bounty inAmerican Primeval, more concerned about their payday than serving justice.
American Primeval
Cast
American Primeval is a Netflix limited series that follows the lives of several men and women in the middle of the expansion of the American West. Social dynamics clash as men and women battle for a piece of the new world against rivals and each other.
