Frontier: The Hudson’s Bay Company, the real trading concern created by royal charter in the 1600s to work a large chunk of North America, is seeing its monopoly eroded by interlopers. Lord Benton crosses the ocean to try to restore the company’s dominance. He is especially concerned about Declan Harp, Harp is a goliath who, as one of Benton’s aides puts it, is “half-Irish, half-native” and lives a shadowy existence in the woods, pestering the British with guerrilla tactics and hoping to form a trade alliance with the local Crees.
Aboard Benton’s ship is Michael Smyth, a petty thief who ended up there unintentionally and, once discovered, is put to use by Benton as a sort of spy: He is to infiltrate Harp’s camp and provide Benton with intelligence. It is presumably this young fellow we’re supposed to be emotionally invested in as he tries to figure out his allegiances and play both sides, and he gets most of the early focus, though other intriguing characters are lurking about who may emerge.
Frontier is a joint effort by Netflix and Discovery Canada.