Reservation Dogs is an American comedy-drama television series created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi for FX Productions.

It follows the lives of Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma, as they try to reconcile their heritage with their desire to escape the limitations of life in their reservation community.

[11][12][13] The series follows the lives of four Indigenous teenagers (the Rez Dogs) in rural Oklahoma, in a small town in the Muscogee Nation,[14] where they spend their days "committing crime and fighting it."

The casting for the four lead actors, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Devery Jacobs, Paulina Alexis, and newcomer Lane Factor, was also confirmed at this time, alongside a group of guest stars to be featured in the pilot episode.

[15] Filming sites for principal photography for season one, which had wrapped by July 2021, included Okmulgee, Tulsa, Sand Springs, Beggs, Inola, and Terlton, all in northeast Oklahoma.

[32] The series features a predominantly Indigenous cast and crew, including creator Sterlin Harjo, and an all-Native writers' room.

The site's critical consensus reads: "Aimless afternoons yield absurd delights in Reservation Dogs, a low-key comedy that deftly captures the malaise of youth and Rez life thanks in no small part to its impressive central crew.

[46] Writing for The Guardian, Ellen E Jones gave the show a rating of five out of five, and said "Reservation Dogs is able to lay waste stylishly to centuries of myth and misrepresentation due to one simple, crucial, innovation: almost everyone involved in the production is a Native American, offering a perspective which never panders to the often-fetishising gaze of outsiders.

"[51] Kristen Lopez of IndieWire also gave it a grade of "B+", saying, "[Reservation Dogs] is a surprising series that illustrates why everyone's story is worth telling" and also praised the four main actors, stating that "the teens assembled here are all fantastic, conveying so much about their characters' true selves even if they don't know it yet".

[54] The New Yorker's Doreen St. Félix wrote, "Reservation Dogs is a mood piece, and a sweet one, a collection of intertwined and poetic portraiture that focuses not solely on the central cast".

"[56] Polygon's Joshua Rivera praised the series, saying, "like a lot of great art, Reservation Dogs challenges its audience with wit and style to look in spaces that have long been ignored, and identify with experiences that are outside their own.

The site's critical consensus reads: "Reservation Dogs has bittersweet bite in its sophomore season as it mines more difficult dilemmas than before with its spiky sense of humor, making for a piquant portrait of a community and a place.

Club and Chase Hutchinson of Collider,[61][62] an "A-" from Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly and Brian Tallerico of The Playlist,[63][64] and a "B+" from Kristen Lopez of IndieWire.

[65] Betancourt highlighted the way it treats dark materials, such as generational trauma, wounding grief, and systemic inequities, with "winsome humor", without going too far.

[66] Kristen Reid of Paste gave it a 9.3 out of 10 and said, "Just a season and a half in, Harjo and co-creator Taika Waititi have already found their groove with Reservation Dogs.

Inviting us onto the reservation to experience it with this group of quickly beloved kids, [It] feels like a celebration of Native life and a way to inspire change for the better.

"[67] Variety's Caroline Framke wrote in her favorable review: "for the hundreds of shows premiering every year, there's still simply nothing else on TV quite like 'Reservation Dogs'.

The site wrote: "No single actor outshined the others; rather, it was their combined chemistry and the characters' reliance on each other that made us laugh at their antics and reel in their heartbreak.

The site's critical consensus reads: "Bowing out while still having plenty of creativity to spare, Reservation Dogs' final season sidesteps feeling premature by satisfying on every level.