Reservation Dogs: Creator Sterlin Harjo looks back on making the series

FX’s original series Reservation Dogs has had a landmark run as far as streaming series go. Now that the third and final season of the show is in the rearview, we can examine its impact with the benefit of hindsight and perspective.

The final episode of season 3, specifically, was an absolutely fitting capstone. With the death of Old Man Fixico, one of the Okern elders, it was all about a community running through its traditions of grief and mourning.

That episode is arguably one of the best episodes on streaming TV of all time, as the rez dogs gang of friends, Bear, Willie Jack, Cheese, and Elora confronted the pains of growing into adulthood. The series will arguably be ranked among the Top 5 for the next few years.

As a window into a community that is often invisible (at best) and ignored (at worst), the legacy of Reservation Dogs will be studied and dissected by critics and pundits, even as it paves the way for similar entertainment that’s pregnant with meaning and pleasurably well-crafted, too. That Reservation Dogs was made by two excellent showrunners, Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, was foremost among the reasons why it’s so different in tone and pace and so well made too.

In an interview with Deadline, Harjo opened up about how the ripples of his FX series would indeed be felt in the industry for years to come. “Everything that you see on this episode is exactly what happens in my community,” Harjo said about the series finale.

“It is a very supportive, inspired, open community of artists making this show, and then that expanded to the fans, and the fans have been with us from the beginning,” he said, crediting much of the success to the production’s creative team, which is mainly composed of indigenous and native peoples.

Reservation Dogs showrunner Sterlin Harjo speaks up on creating opportunity

“…There’s nothing that makes me prouder than if something that I created has a pivotal place in the lives and careers of the artists and the actors and the filmmakers and the writers that worked on this show. That was my favorite part. Being able to give opportunity, because that’s all we need. We had the power.”

“You’re reminded we’re a community, and we take care of each other, and that is something that I’ve always wanted to show in this show,” Harjo added, explaining that his family had been cast as extras in the show at various points.

“My dad said something one day that really stuck with me. He said, ‘the show gave Native people a reason to really hold their head up and be proud.’ To hear my Native dad say that, you kind of think…like, it doesn’t matter what any nomination you don’t get. It’s like, that’s what matters — that somebody could say something like that about something that you created.”

During its run, Reservation Dogs was feted with a Peabody Award, an Independent Spirit Award, as well as AFI TV Programs of the Year for 2022 and 2023.

You can read our recaps and reviews of Reservation Dogs season 3 right here on Show Snob.

What did you think of Reservation Dogs? Let us know in the comments below!

You can watch all three seasons of Reservation Dogs on HULU.