Reservation Dogs To End With Season 3: Read Creator Sterlin Harjo's Statement
The third season of FX's Reservation Dogs — which returns Wednesday, Aug. 2 — will be its last, creator Sterlin Harjo announced on Instagram Thursday. The writer/director called it 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," he wrote. "As we continued to break stories and write scripts this season, it became clear to the producers, Taika and me that the Season 3 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 mostly 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 it 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 never took that lightly.
"There are so many people to thank-our amazing writers, directors and crew, and all of the people of Okmulgee, Tulsa and the great people of the Muscogee Nation. As for our beautiful cast, especially Devery Jacobs, 'Pharaoh Woon-a-tai, Paulina Alexis and Lane Factor, you are the Rez Dogs and this show wouldn't have been the same without you Reservation Dogs has been a privilege. Although it's the end of this story, it's likely you will see Elora Danan, Bear Smallhill, Willie Jack, Cheese Williams and other characters in the Rez Dogs universe show up in other stories to come. Until then, Mvto. Love you bitch."
The half-hour dramedy follows a group of teenagers (Jacobs, Woon-A-Tai, Factor and Alexis) coming of age on a Native American reservation in Oklahoma. All of the regulars, writers and directors on the series are Indigenous.
Said FX in a statement: "People throw around the words historic and groundbreaking far too often and without merit: Reservation Dogs is worthy of those superlatives. Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi created one of the most important TV shows ever made. They gave the world a wholly unique, original, and honest portrayal of Native people — one that has never before been seen in television or film. We, along with our partners at Hulu, are forever grateful to the producers, writers, directors, cast, crew and the Native land and communities in eastern Oklahoma who collaborated to make this masterpiece. While we're sad to see the show come to an end, we're excited for Sterlin, Taika and Garrett Basch to continue to tell stories for FX."
Reservation Dogs was renewed for Season 3 on Sept 22 of last year. Its Season 2 finale aired just a week later (read a recap here), and earned all four of its leads TVLine's Performers of the Week honor.
TVLine's streaming scorecard has been updated to reflect the news. Surprised to hear the Rez Dogs are bowing out so soon? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.