ABC’s new “Blood & Oil,” which premieres Sunday, shifts the oil-drilling action from the fields of Texas (“Dallas”) and Colorado (“Dynasty”) to North Dakota, where the vast Bakken Shale oil deposit ignited a boom in the town of Williston in 2008.

Starring Don Johnson as a larger-than-life tycoon in boots and a broad-brimmed hat, “Blood & Oil” recreates Williston as the fictional North Dakota boomtown of Rock Springs. Young newlyweds Billy and Cody Lefever (Chace Crawford of “Gossip Girl” and Rebecca Rittenhouse) move to Rock Springs to start a business. They discover a Wild West crackling with strivers and swindlers as well as oil barons, presided over by Mr. Johnson’s Hap Briggs. 

The toll of the boom-and-bust cycle is the philosophical core of this show, said Josh Pate, co-creator of the new series. It “could have been about the Gold Rush or it could have been about the dot-com [era]. It’s really about a speculative mania,” said Mr. Pate, who has worked in television and film as a screenwriter, director and producer.

Mr. Pate, 45, isn’t the first to be fascinated by Williston’s transformation. “The Overnighters,” a 2014 documentary, tracked a local pastor’s effort to help workers streaming into town. And earlier this year, the Smithsonian Channel’s “Boomtowners” series examined how the Bakken bonanza affected area residents and new arrivals.

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