‘Reservation Dogs’ Finally Earned A Best Comedy Nomination, After FX Canceled It Last Year

FX’s breakthrough — and thoroughly unique — comedy Reservation Dogs struggled for three seasons to find an audience before the network decided to end the series in 2023.

Fortunately, the series from Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi finally got its due Wednesday; the single-camera comedy that follows the exploits of Elora Danan (Devery Jacobs), Bear Smallhill (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis) and Cheese (Lane Factor) in rural Oklahoma earned its first-ever nomination in the best comedy category while star Woon-A-Tai nabbed one for actor in a comedy.

The show from FX Productions was a breakout because of its accurate and knee-slapping depiction of Native people.

“Almost all television and film depictions about Native people are most inaccurate,” Harjo said last year. “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.”

When the news about the cancelation was revealed, Harjo released this statement: “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.”