Stars Devery Jacobs and Paulina Alexis on shooting in Oklahoma, improvisation and bidding farewell.

Story By Margy Rochlin
Photograph by Jane Kim
For The Times

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.” 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 it was the first series created, produced and written by and starring Indigenous people — and it’s 99% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes — Harjo decided the 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. The people are the nicest.

DEVERY JACOBS The Black, brown and Native folks there are so resilient and have been through so much.

Paulina, you were the only actor permitted to go off script. Explain.

ALEXIS I don’t know exactly how to explain it. But Willie Jack? Anything she’d say, I’d say. Even in the auditions, I changed the way I’d read it because it just wouldn’t roll off my tongue. I think that’s what got me the role. My brothers are all really talented, really funny. Growing up with them taught me improv. The best advice they gave me was, “If you’re going to say things, just say them.” When you’re acting, it’s too performative. It takes away the naturalness.

JACOBS Her improv skills are unmatched.

Devery, talk about joining the writers’ room in the second season.

JACOBS In comedies, a lot of times you see these characters who don’t grow, where it’s kind of the same thing for them in every episode. One of the beautiful things about “Rez Dogs” is that we see evolutions of these characters and of this community.

Paulina, you always said that Willie Jack should be that girl on every rez, the one with the baseball cap and the braids.

ALEXIS The show means a lot to not just me but to Natives across America, Canada. Growing up, you don’t see Native people on TV. [Pauses] Well, I’ve seen Native people on TV, but they’re not accurately how we are. So I wanted to bring that to life. It really hit home when people started reaching out to me saying that they never saw anyone on TV that looked like them until they saw me. That meant a lot because that used to be me.

What’s a trope about Indigenous people that you hope to never see on TV ever again?

JACOBS Anything remotely resembling a Pocahontas stereotype. I remember telling my agent, “If I’m ever going to have a sex scene, my bottom line is it can’t be in buckskin or on a bed of furs.” I want to be portrayed as the modern people we are.

What was especially difficult about the end of “Reservation Dogs”?

JACOBS There was still a crack in the door open, that the show might continue. And then the writers’ [and actors’] strike[s] happened. It felt like it [ended] without us really knowing and that we were robbed of the opportunity for all of us to let this story go at the same time.