50 Fun Facts About Reservation Dogs

Who co-created Reservation Dogs with Taika Waititi?

Harjo, from Holdenville, Oklahoma, took the lead on the show while Waititi played a more supporting role.

In which US state do the Rez Dogs live?

The first season was filmed entirely in Oklahoma, a first for a scripted series.

On which streaming service did Reservation Dogs premiere in 2021?

It premiered on August 9, 2021, the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples.

How many seasons of Reservation Dogs were made?

Harjo announced in June 2023 that the show would end with its third season, which concluded that September.

Where do the Rez Dogs dream of moving to?

Their late friend Daniel had dreamed of the trip, and the gang tries to make it in his honor.

Who plays Bear Smallhill?

Woon-A-Tai was born in Toronto and has a fraternal twin brother, Mi'De Xxavier.

Which actress plays Elora Danan Postoak?

Jacobs later joined the writers' room and directed a season 3 episode.

Elora Danan is named after a character from which 1988 fantasy film?

Elora is the most responsible member of the gang and lost her mother as a toddler.

What is Willie Jack's full first name?

Her full name is Wilhelmina Jacqueline Sampson; Daniel was her cousin.

Who plays Willie Jack?

Alexis first auditioned for Elora; Willie Jack was rewritten from a male character after she was cast.

What is the name of Bear's spirit guide?

Dallas Goldtooth plays the self-proclaimed warrior, who also appears to Uncle Brownie in season 2.

At which battle does Bear's spirit guide claim he died?

He admits he did not do any actual fighting there — he died falling off his horse.

Who plays Officer Big, the superstitious lighthorseman?

McClarnon also leads AMC's Dark Winds as Joe Leaphorn.

Which actor plays Uncle Brownie, Elora's hermit uncle?

Farmer is best known as Nobody in Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, a role he reprised in Ghost Dog.

What is the name of the rival teen gang led by Jackie?

Jackie grew up in the city and bonds with Elora during their first attempt to reach California.

What is the stage name of Bear's estranged rapper father?

He is hired to perform at the clinic's Diabetes Awareness Frybread Feast, then cancels on Bear.

Kenny Boy, who keeps insisting he is Native, owns what local business?

Kirk Fox plays Kenny Boy, who peppers his speech with mispronounced Navajo, Lakota and Ojibwe words.

Who plays Dr. Kang, the physician at the tribal clinic?

Dr. Kang flirts with Bear's mom in the episode 'NDN Clinic'.

Which mythical being does Kaniehtiio Horn play?

Season 3 gives her an origin story at an abusive boarding school called St. Nicholas Training School.

Which Oscar nominee guest stars as Hokti, Daniel's imprisoned mother?

Hokti is a medicine woman who has neglected her practice; an ancestral spirit named Gram pesters her to resume.

Which comedian plays Elora's driving instructor and former basketball coach?

In 'California Dreamin'' he takes Elora on a wild ride away from a shootout instead of finishing her test.

Who plays Gene, the head of the group home Cheese is sent to?

Gene forces the Native and Black youth in his care into 'recovery' circles despite none of them being addicts.

Which rock frontman appears as 'White Jesus of Los Angeles'?

The Incubus singer turns up during the gang's ill-fated California trip.

Which actor plays Rick, Elora's long-absent father?

Hawke later starred in Harjo's follow-up FX series The Lowdown.

Which town hosted the filming of the pilot?

Season 2 was also filmed on location there, in the Muscogee Nation.

Which Native sketch comedy group had all its members work on the show?

Four of the five members worked on season one; Ryan RedCorn joined the writers' room for season two.

What later FX series by the co-creator is set in the same universe?

Its lead actor also appears in Reservation Dogs, playing a different character.

How many Peabody Awards did Reservation Dogs win?

It also won two Independent Spirit Awards and made AFI's top ten three years running.

How many Primetime Emmy nominations did the series receive?

They included Outstanding Comedy Series and a lead actor nod for D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai.

In the pilot, what do the Rez Dogs steal and sell to fund their escape?

The NDN Mafia then drive by and pelt them with paintballs, causing Bear to faint and meet his spirit guide.

What do Elora and Willie Jack sell outside the clinic in 'NDN Clinic'?

They set up next to Old Man Fixico, who is selling traditional medicines.

Which season 1 episode follows Willie Jack and her dad on a deer hunt?

The episode is a quiet two-hander about grief over Daniel's death a year earlier.

In season 2, why does Willie Jack believe she has cursed the gang?

Uncle Brownie tells her she used bad medicine and it has come back on all of them.

Which episode is a multi-actor showcase for the dying grandmother of Elora?

Devery Jacobs co-wrote the episode with Sterlin Harjo; friends gather to sing in Mvskoke.

In 'Wide Net', where do the Aunties go for their 'closest thing to a vacation'?

Bev, Natalie, Rita and Teenie set out to make sexual conquests, with mixed results.

What stolen shipment is Big sent to investigate in 'This is Where the Plot Thickens'?

Big would rather chase a bigfoot sighting, and ends up accidentally dosed with psychedelics.

What does Bear grow at Maximus's compound 'for when the star people return'?

Graham Greene plays Maximus, a mohawked recluse who tranquilizes Bear with a dart.

In what year is the flashback episode 'House Made of Bongs' set?

Young Maximus, Brownie, Bucky, Irene and Mabel party by a lake at the end of the school year.

Which season 3 episode did Elora's actress direct?

In it, Cookie's spirit appears to Rita, who is the only one able to see her.

Whose funeral brings the community together in the series finale 'Dig'?

Willie Jack delivers a sunrise speech inspired by Hokti, and Bear meets his spirit guide for the last time.

Who plays Bucky, the local artist who sculpts with stolen copper?

Bucky is part of the 1976 boarding-school friend group seen in season 3.

Which US Poet Laureate cameos as the manager of the store where Elora works?

The Mvskoke poet shares a surname, and a home state, with the show's co-creator.

Willie Jack's actress made her professional debut in which 2021 film?

Jason Reitman was impressed enough by her video audition to invite her to a live one.

Which Spielberg film did Lane Factor join in 2021?

Factor was born in Midwest City, Oklahoma; his mother is vice chairwoman of the Caddo Nation.

The show's co-creator is a citizen of which tribal nation?

He is also a Muscogee descendant and was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2024, the only filmmaker in his group.

What was the co-creator's first feature film, a 2007 Sundance premiere?

Co-star Tamara Podemski, later Teenie on Reservation Dogs, won a Sundance special jury prize for it.

Which pipeline protest did Dallas Goldtooth take part in as a water protector?

Goldtooth cofounded the 1491s and wrote for seasons 2 and 3 of the show.

Elora's actress earned a Canadian Screen Award nod for which 2013 film?

Paulina Alexis's older brother Nathan also appeared in that film.

What symbol did Bear's actor wear at the 76th Primetime Emmys?

It was a show of solidarity with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

Big's actor plays Joe Leaphorn in which AMC series?

He is also an executive producer on the show, adapted from Tony Hillerman's novels.