Four Indigenous teens lunge into a truck carrying Flaming Flamers hot chips in bulk. They slip the door closed and speed back home, unseen even as they zoom past local police. Seeing these kids do almost anything to raise money for their plan to leave home creates the energy that lasts throughout the FX series Reservation Dogs — and made it a success this year. 

Now the series, co-created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, has solidified its second season with FX for the upcoming year. In fact, Harjo just signed a multiple-year deal with the network to develop new projects and continue his well-reviewed series. 

But what makes Reservation Dogs such a hit? According to Sydney Freeland, one of the writers of the series, it's its authenticity. 

“We [the writers] started sharing stories, and then that conversation evolved into, ‘... Basically, we want to make a show that we would want to see; we want to make a show that we would’ve wanted to see as teenagers growing up on the reservation,’” she said. 

The character-driven show introduces a range of people who make up the world of the reservation in eastern Oklahoma. What begins as a wild bunch of voices slowly evolves as each character shares their story. All of the initial conversations in the writers room revolved around making characters — like the police officer filled with conspiracy theories — understood and a fit for the teens’ environment. 

“That is your whole world and getting out feels impossible, but then within that there's still all the stuff on the reservation — all these unique, colorful characters and situations and scenarios,” Freeland said. 

Everything is unexpected, right from the beginning. The energy is brought up at the start of each episode. 

“I feel like the episodes are very jampacked with a lot of stuff,” Freeland said. “And a lot came from all these conversations and this willingness to build up a whole thing and then tear it all down again.” 

While the first episode begins with a heist, another one may begin with a white couple running over a deer or a larger-than-life music video about fry bread. Each beginning, seemingly out of left field, feeds into the story and the characters explored in the episode. 

“One of the things that were great — which Sterlin definitely fostered in the writer — was, we break the entire episode with an idea that was a really good idea. But he would come back the next morning and say, ‘You know, I think I feel like this is what audiences would expect,’ and we would throw the whole thing out and start over again.” 

When Freeland first joined the writing team, parts of the series were already written. One part that stood out for those in the room and for viewers who saw the final product was that the eyes on an owl are pixelated in episode 3. 

“I knew exactly what he was doing. And I was like, this is a genius screenplay with cinematic elements and again that was sort of a catalyst that kind of set us off on this path towards like, ‘what is this film going to be about?’” 

The scene played on the taboo surrounding the animal. For Freeland, she said in Navajo culture the presence of an owl meant someone was going to die. Similar sentiments surrounding the owl are present in many Indigenous cultures. For some viewers, the reference went over their heads and brought along explainers online. Freeland said seeing moments like the one with the owl be used on a television show was amazing because it was so authentic and connected with the people who understood it. By leaning into the references, it required audiences to catch up, but that is okay. It is the point behind having a show like Reservation Dogs.

“We're not going to handhold, we're not going to explain everything, we're not trying to get up on a soapbox and make some grand statement,” Freeland said. “It's about our experience of growing up as kids, growing up on a reservation. These were experiences that we had.” 

The writing team primarily got together over Zoom since they started writing while in quarantine. It allowed each of them to play and create while things felt uncertain, according to Freeland. When they were finally able to be together and go into filming, the words they wrote were full of surprises and new experiences. 

In a scene that highlights another part of Freeland’s experiences on the reservation, Rita (Sarah Podemski) provides wise words to Elora (Devery Jacobs), but in a way that is authentic to Indigenous cultures. 

“Reading it on the page, I had one thing pictured in my mind [for] what this would be and I didn't want to make it sentimental,” Freeland said. “I think what actually happened on the day is, as we were shooting it, what presented itself in the rehearsal was something that was just almost a matter of fact, and I don't mean to necessarily throw it away, but to me, there was a sort of an authenticity in that moment in terms of how it was happening.” 

Pearls of wisdom come when you least expect it.

“People who were Native immediately got what we were doing,” she said. “When you need to know this information, it'll be shared with you and you're not going to be able to determine the place or the time,” she said. 

Each of these moments highlights parts of Indigenous cultures and depicts scenarios that those who grew up on the reservation could connect with — something rarely seen on television. It allows people to see a more authentic representation of the community. 

“I feel like Indigenous communities operate differently,” Freeland said. “We actually say the same thing with Uncle Brownie [Gary Farmer] when he's talking about, ‘You can't just go read this stuff in a book; you have to learn it, and you have to experience it.’”