“They’re the best in town, even if it’s a small town.”
That’s an official logline for Taika Waititi’s upcoming FX (on Hulu) followup to What We Do in the Shadows, and he’s heading down another rather intriguing (yet undoubtedly funny) road. the eclectic auteur’s now bringing us a comedy series, Reservation Dogs, that’s co-written by Native American filmmaker Sterlin Harjo. Yes, the teens in this show rock suits that look strikingly similar to the characters of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, and the show (according to a press release) “follows four Native teenagers in rural Oklahoma who spend their days committing crime… and fighting it.”
The trailer sees the main characters, four indigenous teens, do some hustlin’ and thievin’ in an attempt to get the hell out of dodge. In their case, dodge is rural Oklahoma — the show was shot in and near Okmulgee (the home of the Muskogee Creek tribal headquarters) — where, presumably, excitement is lacking. Not for long, though, and these teens hope to make it all the way to California.
The four stars of this show are D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (as Bear), Devery Jacobs (as Elora Denan), Paulina Alexis (as Willie Jack), and Lane Factor (as Cheese). “Cheese” must be the coolest/uncoolest character name of all time. Previously, Harjo declared “[a]s longtime friends, it was only natural that Taika and I found a project together, and what better than a show that celebrates the complementary storytelling styles of our indigenous communities–mine in Oklahoma and Taika’s in Aotearoa.”
Reservation Dogs premieres on FX on Hulu on August 9.