FX Network has announced that Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo‘s highly-acclaimed series Reservation Dogs will be coming to an end with its upcoming third season. Reservation Dogs is a great show, and I’m surprised that it’s ending after only three seasons, but the reason behind it was a creative one. According to the creator, the time has come to bring the story to an end. He shared in a statement:
“Aho young and old warriors! Here it is: the coming third season of Reservation Dogswill be the final season. That’s a difficult line to write and a more difficult decision to make. However, it’s the correct decision creatively for the show. I always knew what the end of this story would be, I just didn’t know when it would arrive. As we continued to break stories and write scripts this season, it became clear to the producers, Taika and me that the season three finale is the perfect series finale. When we came up with the idea for Reservation Dogs, I didn’t think the show would ever get made, but thankfully it did.”
“The first and most basic idea for us as Native people, was to show the world that Native humor and Natives are funny. Almost all television and film depictions about Native people are most inaccurate. And most of them have been untruthful. It has been a gift to us to show the world a different perspective of Indigenous people and our culture. Most important of all, it has been a dream to collaborate and make a show that is entirely written by, directed by and stars Native people. These are our stories, and they represent our people. We know it’s an enormous responsibility and we don’t take that lightly. It has been an incredible experience to have the show embraced so lovingly by the audience and TV critics. We’re grateful for the support we’ve received from producer Garrett Basch, as well as John Landgraf, Nick Grad, Kate Lambert and everyone at FX and Hulu. Our experience with them has been exceptional and we’re excited to develop new shows with them once things get up and moving again. There are so many people to thank — our amazing writers, directors and crew and all the people of Okmulgee, Tulsa and the great people of the Muscogee Nation.”
So, I’m happy that the creative team is going to get to tell the full story that they set out to tell and properly bring that story to an end.
The series follows the exploits of Elora Danan (Devery Jacobs), Bear Smallhill (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis) and Cheese (Lane Factor), “four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma. After the death of the fifth member of the Reservation Dogs, the crew took to stealing, scheming and saving in order to vicariously fulfill his dream of reaching the exotic, mysterious and faraway land of California. But after a promising start to their criminal endeavors, including the legendary heist of a Flaming Flamers chips truck, swiping some old lady’s weed edibles and some low-grade grand theft auto, the plan went bust. The gang disbanded, with everyone trying to forge their own paths.”
The final season of Reservation Dogs will premiere on August 2nd on FX and Hulu!