Hell on Wheels, the ten-episode drama co-starring Common is set to debut tonight on AMC.

Playing a former slave trying for a better life as a free man, Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr. (Common) is faced with the challenges of discrimination and racism in a post-Civil War United States.

It was such quality writing and material. This is one of the best characters I’ve come across, movie or TV. If I was going to do TV, I wanted to align my name with something impressive, and AMC is like an art house station in its own right.

– Common

Hell on Wheels premieres tonight at 10/9 central on AMC.