The Creator of ‘Reservation dogs’ Season 2 Death and a Perfect Curse word

The fourth episode of Season 4 of Reservation Dogs would seem extraordinary, if only it weren’t for all the other incredible episodes of Reservation Dogs.

The FX comedy (which streams exclusively on Hulu) follows a quartet of Native teens — would-be group leader Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), actual group leader Elora Danan (Devery Jacobs), the taciturn Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis), and the agreeable Cheese (Lane Factor) — hanging around their reservation in rural Oklahoma while dreaming of escaping to a more glamorous life in California. The first season of the series, created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, was one of the very best TV shows of last year — as distinct in tone and style as it is in its focus on indigenous characters in a medium that has so rarely shown interest in them.

This series feels both small and large at the same time. The kids’ grand plans never amount to much, yet there is a palpable sense that their worlds are at stake with each tiny decision. Through the ghost William Knifeman (19th century warrior) (played now by comedian). Reservation Dogs Dallas Goldtooth is the writer. The show pokes fun at how popular culture has depicted Native characters over the past century. It also takes into account the ideas of curses, spirits, and et cetera. With the utmost seriousness. It is a show that feels charming, unforgettable, and like nothing else on television — not even now that there has been the tiniest of upticks of series with indigenous leads like Peacock’s Rutherford Falls and AMC’s Dark Winds (whose star Zahn Mclarnon continues to play the role of Big, an idiotic local cop)

The fourth episode is coming soon. “Mabel,”The ceremony involves members of the reservation coming together in order to say goodbye to an elder in the community. It’s equal parts dry comedy, heartbreaking pathos, and cooking montages, and is utterly lovely. These episodes are amazing in their own way, which prompted an extended conversation last week between them. Rolling Stone Sterlin Harjo explains all that goes into making Reservation Dogs It’s so unique.

You’d never written for scripted television before Reservation Dogs. What was the most important thing you learned in that first season?
There was a bit of a balance of, yes, I hadn’t done scripted TV. That did work in my favor, though. It was a great way to make a show unique. It’s the economy of writing for TV that you just get better at. You just realize that you don’t have a lot of time to meander. At this point, I can just read a script and then go. “We don’t need this, we don’t need that.”FX shows are also different in style from other programs. It’s very classic, like how things get set up right from the beginning and then you follow the fallout from that setup. It might take me a bit longer to set up a feature. That style of just dropping into a world and moving forward is what I love.

It’s funny you say that there’s not a lot of time for meandering, because some of my favorite parts of the show are the meandering bits. You’ll do these episodes where very little seems to happen, yet in this incredibly engaging way. How can you do that?
For me, I think it’s because we set this world up. And the world is exactly what I loved about my family’s way of storytelling. I think Native people have this really great way of telling stories, which I’ve always tried to capture. As a child, I remember hearing my family tell me the simplest story about grocery shopping trips. It would be, however. BigIt would be full of characters, the way they would tell it. For example, they met this strange and quirky guy on their way. Then they meet this other person who they suspect is putting bad spells upon people. It’s just full of life and mythology. That’s what I wanted to do with this, to tell this seemingly simple story with not a lot happening — but there actually is a lot happening, a lot of characters, a lot of things riding underneath the current.

These are the four young actors you cast They have varying degrees of experience. How did you determine what each could do?
It’s a lot about being an independent filmmaker. I have been casting my family for many years and casting non-actors over the years. I learned how to work together with them and how they draw strengths from each other. That was my training ground. Reservation Dogs. They’re all so different in how they approach things. Sometimes, with Lane, it’s getting him to lock in. Sometimes, his instincts will be right on the first time you approach them. Devery is always ready and willing to go, so you will get many different takes from her. You can work together with her to achieve your goals. Paulina will let you know that it’s okay to not get in her way. Every time she adds something, it’s going to be great.

D’Pharaoh is really really internal. We work really hard on these scenes, and he can really get down on himself if something’s not working out. It’s never from a bad performance or anything; it’s just us trying to find this place. But D’Pharaoh takes it very seriously, and doesn’t want to disappoint. With him, it’s about reminding him we’re having fun. It’s amazing what D’Pharoah can do; he can do nothing, and you’re interested in watching it. There’s not a better trait for a leading character than, “I could just watch him sit there.” He’s just got such good reactions, and he knows that character really well. It’s just about giving him the space to be comfortable and do all of that.

This season, you brought Devery to the writers’ room. Devery was invited to the writers’ room.
It was easy to invite her into the writer’s room. She is an excellent storyteller and filmmaker. There were moments in Season One where she would just politely bring up a concern and a solution, and that’s what you want in a writer. Elora Danan is a character she knows well and this was an opportunity for her to expand on it. When she handed in a draft, I couldn’t have been more happy or proud of her work. She’s such a good writer.

When I visit writer rooms, the challenge is often how to tell the same story that millions have seen. These shows have focused on Native characters for the last few years. How much of an advantage does this give you?
It’s such an advantage. We have the opportunity to show a whole new world. This is what show creators and writers strive for in their work. “I want to have this be so unique that audiences are leaning in and want to know more, and you have them in the palm of your hand.”This is what we do right off the bat. It’s really hard to screw that up. A bonus is that we are skilled at writing.

Cultures are not monolithic, and you’ve got writers from different backgrounds and parts of the country. What happens when you’re working on a story and some of the writers’ experiences with that particular idea are different than others?
We stick to the tribe in which we’re basing the story, which is mine. [Editor’s note: Harjo is a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, and also has Muskogee heritage.] That’s the guiding light, but whenever there’s commonality, we try to grab the common aspects of all of our cultures. If something’s very specific from somewhere else, but we try to find what’s common to all of our communities, and that’s what people are going to relate to. When we do this, it translates to non-Natives as well.

The fourth episode [from Season Two], “Mabel,”This is amazing. What aspects were you most interested in highlighting during that half-hour of time?
Everybody had the same experience of people coming together in order to help someone else in their communities. This was specifically inspired by us doing it for my grandma. It was shot in a very similar house. So it’s based on that, but I cowrote it with Devery, and that was also some of her experience. We would pull from everyone’s experience, and we all had that in common with someone passing. All of us had had similar experiences, such as seeing a loved one pass.

This episode, as many others, has an elastic tone. It contains parts that are very sad and parts that are funny. How do you maintain this?
I don’t know how to do it any other way. I think there’s something very Native in the tone and style. Our humor has always existed alongside drama and tragedy. Our humor was a way to cope. It was a way to get through difficult times. So it’s ingrained in the way that I think about things. I can’t imagine not doing that. I approach an episode like that one and I don’t think, “Oh, this is going to be so sad.” Some of the most funny, fun times we’ve had are funerals, because we’re all getting together. To me, there’s no way I could have made that just one note. It wouldn’t have felt right. It wouldn’t have been worth telling. Whenever I see something like that that’s just dramatic, I find that it feels very false. It feels very real. It is both dramatic and funny.

While William Knifeman’s spirit never fails to make me smile every time he appears, the show does take Native spirituality more seriously. How do you portray this aspect of the culture?
Westerns are known for their sarcasm. William Knifeman, a joke-telling character who was cooler than he is today, was definitely present back in those days. The character reminds people they are human and also flips the stereotype around, acknowledging that the stereotype may be partially true. For people who are not used to modern Native stories, I think that character makes them comfortable — to be invited into that world and get used to the humor, because that is the image that they’re used to. For better or for worse, the image that they’re used to seeing looks like William Knifeman more than it looks like me. So it invites them in, and once they’re in, shows them the humor and says, “We can laugh at this together.” I think that it’s crucial in having a non-Native audience roll along with the punches and roll along with the humor.

But through his humor, he’s also saying real things. In this third episode of the year, he discusses how to mourn those who have passed. He’s in a Porta-Potty, but he says some really wonderful things in there about how we, as an indigenous people, evolve through the loss of someone. And sometimes the serious things he’s saying come in the form of him saying the opposite of what you should do. So you kind of have to decipher if he’s telling the truth or not.

Do I feel that characters say what they want? “shitass”They did a lot better in this season than they did the first.
Most definitely. We’ve bumped the shitass factor up by 20 percent in Season Two.

Why?
I think you’ve gotta raise the stakes.

Is there ever a point when there is just too much? “shitass”? Have you ever found yourself saying: “All right, they’re saying too much in this scene, and we need to dial it back”?
Oh, we’ve cut out a lot of shitasses. There are conversations where we’ll ask, “Is there too many shitasses here? Let’s take this out.”This season will have episodes that aren’t shitasses. Never fret.

I was impressed by the strong response, and people are now going. “Oh, this is a new curse word. I can use this.”
Zahn is actually the one who said it so fluidly. It was an improvisation that Zahn did in Episode 102 of last season. It was just something he said over and over again. I then had other people speak it to me, and then it became clear that it should be spoken to the children. If you can bring a change in culture, it’s a great thing. I think it’s fantastic. At least we’re doing something right.

Sonic’s food is a popular choice for the characters. Why?
It’s just local and I grew up eating there. Each small town has one. At some point, they’re going to need me to direct some of their commercials or something, because I’ve been giving them a lot of free press. Or at least, like, a gift card — an endless gift card to Sonic.

You’re sharing Zahn with Dark WindsYou can find a lot of cast members and crew that have done these shows, or your show. Rutherford Falls Some who’ve been involved with all three. How good are your communications with producers of those shows?
We all know each other. And there’s not a giant pool of Native actors. But we’re creating more. There’s going to be more interest, now that there’s actual opportunities. We all communicate and know each other. All of us share the same writers, directors, actors, casting director, and other things. So we’re always in communication and trying to see if people who are available. We talk.

And it’s a good thing that there are three different kinds of Native shows on television at once, right?
For sure. And I think there’s going to be more coming out. I think it’s going to blow people away how diverse the stories are going to be. It’s exciting.

The first two episodes Reservation Dogs Season Two is streaming on Hulu now, with additional episodes coming out every week.