The hit show, "Reservation Dogs," is up for various Emmy awards.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—"Reservation Dogs" has received four nominations for the 76th annual Emmy Awards, the Television Academy recently announced.
Canadian actor D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Bear) won an Emmy nomination as the best lead actor in a comedy series. Woon-A-Tai has become associated with main character Bear Smallhill in "Reservation Dogs." Bear is a young teen in the coming-of-age comedy series who is the self-acclaimed leader of the Rez Dogs gang.
The show also won a nomination for outstanding comedy series.
While the show is nominated for comedy series, it is a comedy-drama television series created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi for FX Productions. It follows the lives of four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma, as they spend their days hanging out to earn money to leave even while they combat crimes.
Besides comedy, the show deals with serious topics like MMIW, attempted kidnappings, intergenerational trauma from boarding schools, and the boarding school experience through the eyes of a young girl in the 1960s.
It is the first American series to feature all Indigenous writers and directors, and an almost entirely Indigenous North American cast and crew. The first season was filmed entirely in Oklahoma, a first for a series. The series premiered on Hulu under FX on Hulu branding on August 9, 2021[6] (International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples). It was renewed for a second season in 2021[8] and a third and final season in 2022, which premiered on August 2, 2023. The series concluded in September, 2023.
"Reservation Dogs" received widespread critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including two Peabody Awards and two Independent Spirit Awards, and has been nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards (including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Woon-A-Tai), one Golden Globe, six Television Critics Association Awards, and nine Critics' Choice Television Awards. Additionally, it was named one of the best series of 2021 and 2022 by many critics, and consecutively listed as one of the ten best television programs of 2021, 2022, and 2023 by the American Film Institute.
Besides official praise, the series has been lauded by its audience. Diego Luke wrote in Minnesota Native News, "This show gives Native people a national platform and voice. It has inspired many kids on reservations. For the first time, they are able to see themselves being represented on screen, not as a savage, not as a love interest, and not portrayed by a white person."
The show also won two nominations for outstanding single-camera cinematography and picture editing. The 2024 Emmys ceremony will air September 15 on ABC.
