More Native Americans on Television

With the exception of the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies, Native American characters have been nearly non-existent on television in the United States. And in the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies, Native American characters were generally confined to the Westerns of the era and played by white actors or actors of yet other ethnicities than Indigenous. It was exceedingly rare that a Native American character even appeared in a present day setting. It is then remarkable that within the past year and a quarter three different shows featuring Native Americans in lead roles have debuted. What is more, two of those of shows have casts that are almost entirely Native American.

The first of these three shows to debut was Rutherford Falls. The show debuted on Peacock on April 22 2021. It was created by Ed Helms (perhaps best known for The Office), Michael Schur (co-creator of Parks and Recreation and The Good Place), and Sierra Teller Ornelas (who served as a producer on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Superstore. While Messrs. Helms and Schur are white, Ms. Teller Ornelas is Navajo.

Rutherford Falls is set in the small town of the same name, where a controversy over a statue in the town pits best friends Nathan Rutherford (Ed Helms), a descendent of the town's founder) and Reagan Wells, a member of the Minishonka Nation. A good number of the cast are Native Americans. What is more, half of the writers on the show are Indigenous. Rutherford Falls has been well received. Furthermore, Rutherford Falls does not rely on stereotypes the way previous shows have, nor does it mythologize American Indians.

The second Native American show to debut was Reservation Dogs. It premiered on FX on Hulu on August 9 2021. Reservation Dogs follows a group of group of Indigenous teens as they try to navigate life on a reservation. It was created by New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo. Sterlin Hajro is a citizen of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and has Muskogee heritage. He has directed the films Four Sheets to the Wind (2007), Barking Water (2009), and Mekko (2015).

If anything Reservation Dogs goes even further than Rutherford Falls in representation. Its cast is almost entirely Indigenous, as is its production team. Every single one of its writers is Native American. It is shot on location in Okmulgee, the capitol of the Muscogee Nation. This also makes it the first TV series to be shot entirely in Oklahoma.  Reservation Dogs has received a good deal of critical acclaim. It is notable for featuring no stereotypes and presenting Native life from a Native point of view.

The third new Native American show just debuted this past Sunday, June 12. Dark Winds is based on Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn & Chee mystery novels, which centre on the Navajo Tribal policemen Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. While Tony Hillerman wrote the Leaphorn & Chee novels from 1970 to 2006, Dark Winds is set in 1971 on the Navajo Reservation.

The vast majority of the cast of Dark Winds are Indigenous (an exception is Noah Emmerich, who plays FBI agent Whitover). The nearly all of the crew are Native American.  Among its producers is Chris Eyre, perhaps best known for the classic film Smoke Signals (1998). The writers on Dark Winds are entirely Native American. Indeed, it was Graham Roland, who is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, who developed Dark Winds for television. Dark Winds has received overwhelmingly positive reviews. Dark Winds differs from both Rutherford Falls and Reservation Dogs in that, while they are comedies, it is a thriller. The show is free of stereotypes and told from a Native viewpoint.

With three Native American shows having debuted recently, I am hoping that there will be more to follow. Native Americans have been largely invisible on American television for much of its history. When Native American characters have appeared, they have often been confined to the Old West and, even when they appear in a modern day setting, have been heavily romanticized. Rutherford Falls, Reservation Dogs, and Dark Winds are s big step forward for Native representation. I hope that it is just the beginning of more to come.