Before she’d filmed a single frame of “Reservation Dogs,” the funny, soulful FX series about four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma, Paulina Alexis, who plays fan-favorite Willie Jack, was sure it’d be a hit. “That was just the vibe [the pilot script] gave off,” says Alexis, who grew up on the Alexis Nakota Sioux First Nation reserve in Alberta, Canada . “It was just kids doing regular rez kid stuff.
I knew it was going to blow up.” Recently, Alexis joined castmate Devery Jacobs, who was raised in Kahnawake Mohawk Territory and played rez dog Elora Danan, to excavate some “Reservation Dogs” memories — including the fluctuating extremes of Oklahoma weather. “We filmed during tornado season,” says Jacobs, who also wrote and directed for the show.
“It’d be freezing, and then the same day it’d be boiling, sweltering hot. It’s very intense. But Sterlin [Harjo, the series’ showrunner] wanted to set this story where he’s from, and you can feel that.
I don’t think we could fake it if it was anywhere else.” Although While the breakout series was the first to be created, produced and written by and starring Indigenous people — and has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 99% — Harjo decided that the right time to end it was after three seasons. Much of “Reservation Dogs” was shot in tiny Okmulgee, Okla.
What do you miss about it? Paulina Alexis: Oklahoma is so beautiful. They have the best sunsets. Just being in that atmosphere, especially w.
