Reservation Dogs boss Sterlin Harjo is putting down roots at FX Productions.
The co-creator of one of the year’s best-reviewed comedies has signed a multiple-year overall deal with the cable network and its internal studio behind the series.
Harjo will create and develop new projects for FX in addition to serving as showrunner on the second season of Reservation Dogs, which he created alongside his longtime friend Taika Waititi. Under the pact, Harjo is already developing an untitled limited series that he will co-write alongside best-selling novelist Jonathan Lee. Harjo direct the project and exec produce alongside Garrett Basch. (Additional details around the series were not immediately available.)
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Reservation Dogs, which has an impressive 98 percent score among critics and 88 percent rating with viewers on Rotten Tomatoes, revolves around four Indigenous teens in rural Oklahoma and their efforts to get to California. The comedy, which FX renewed for a second season in September, was recently named one of the AFI Television Programs of the year and also won a Gotham Award for breakthrough series. The series has landed on several best-of 2021 lists among critics with THR chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg calling it “[a] distinctive, wonderfully cast triumph of representation.”
“Reservation Dogs is brilliant and can’t return soon enough,” said FX president of originals Nick Grad. “We believe in Sterlin’s unique vision and welcome this opportunity to continue to partner with him in bringing more great TV to FX.” Added Harjo: “I’m excited to continue growing my collaboration with FX and have the opportunity to champion more Indigenous voices and stories.”
Harjo’s credits include feature Mekko and Four Sheets to the Wind. He’s a founding member of sketch comedy troupe The 1491s. Harjo joined The Hollywood Reporter podcast TV’s Top 5 in August to discuss how his longtime friendship with Waititi helped get the show in the door at FX, why he would have walked away if the comedy wasn’t filmed in Oklahoma, and his hopes for how stories about Native Americans can evolve. “Not everyone wants to get shot off a horse,” Harjo said of on-screen stereotypes during the interview. “We didn’t survive attempted genocide through being humorless,” he says. “You have to laugh in the face of that darkness and find ways to love and survive. That’s what I want to celebrate in Reservation Dogs.”
