‘Hell on Wheels’ season 5 video: Byron Mann, Tzi Ma talk Chinese presence on Central Pacific

With the fifth season of “Hell on Wheels” premiering on AMC Saturday night, the network is starting to really get their promotional campaign underway. This includes releasing a variety of videos, and the one below is one of the most interesting ones that we have seen to date.

The main focus of this particular video is a story that, according to new series actor Byron Mann (Chang), is being told for the first time on American television. Chinese workers played an enormous role in the construction of the Central Pacific railroad, and yet little attention has been given to them. There were often stripped of their identity and even their name by many Americans, paid an unfair wage, and were forced to work grueling hours as they were forced to work through the mountainous Sierra Nevada mountain range. One of the most chilling remarks comes courtesy of star / producer Anson Mount, who says that there is nary a name of a Chinese worker out there who died building the railroad.

Mann, Mount, and executive producer John Wirth are joined in this video by Tzi Ma, who is playing a man in Tao who has a slightly elevated status in that he was taught English. Therefore, he could serve as a connection between Cullen Bohannon (Mount) and many of the workers. Meanwhile, Chang may prove himself to be an adversary of sorts, given that he, while commanding the Chinese labor force, is also involved in the opium trade and also the prostitution of many Chinese women.

We will have more teasers moving up to the premiere this weekend, so be on the lookout for that.