Sarah Podemski Talks ‘Reservation Dogs’ Season 2 [Interview]

When Reservation Dogs Season 1 premiered in August 2021, it was groundbreaking in many ways. I recently had the chance to speak with Sarah Podemski about what the show means for Hollywood, the entertainment industry, and Indigenous communities in North America. 

Reservation Dogs, which takes place on an Oklahoma Native American reservation, features an all-Indigenous crew of writers and directors and a mostly all-Indigenous cast.

It’s a dark comedy that uses humor to tackle stereotypes and issues associated with Natives in America. The plot centers around four teenagers living on the reservation, grieving the death of their friend, who look to steal and cheat their way to the mythical, magical land of California.

Podemski plays Rita in Reservation Dogs. She’s the young mother of Bear, the leader of the teenage gang. Her character grapples with her difficult family dynamic while controlling her rebellious son.

For Podemski, the show represents much more than an average TV job. It’s a part of a bigger and more important movement.  

“It’s just really comforting knowing that there’s such incredible artists and storytellers that are able to tell these story on such a big platform,” Podemski explained.

She continued describing the set’s atmosphere, her favorite part of making the show. “That’s one of the things that I love, coming to set and being able to just be around other Native people. It’s been a long time coming, but it feels really good and it feels like home.”

A project like Reservation Dogs marks a big step in how Hollywood portrays and represents Indigenous groups and cultures. In a broader sense, it’s creating an impact with representation and diversity both on TV and behind the scenes.  

“I see a lot of people now reaching out to Native content creators. It’s just to keep trusting that we can be at the helm of these productions. We have the knowledge and I think Reservation Dogs is a great example” Podemski said. “People are interested in seeing new stories and new perspectives. I think it’s trusting that we can show run our own shows and be the leaders that we’re capable of being.”

Podemski, who grew up in Toronto, is passionate about Native representation in Hollywood and addressing the misrepresentation of Native people that’s so prevalent in the history of cinema. She explained how she finds Reservation Dogs super validating, since it took a long time for television to fully accept and correctly embrace Indigenous representation.

Podemski said that she’s been acting since she was a child, but she feels like she and the Ingenious creative community are finally getting all the recognition they deserve. People are listening and are interested in their stories.  

“It’s a really proud moment. There were some really rough times where people in the community, myself included, were just thinking, ‘When are we going to get our time to shine?’ I feel like it’s now.”

On Reservation Dogs, much of Rita’s identity and character centers around her being a young mom raising a son on a reservation. Podemski isn’t a mom herself, but she sees a lot of her own mother in Rita. “I really love that even though Rita is a tough mom and a young mom, there is so much love between [Rita and Bear] and it’s just a really special dynamic. I’ve had a lot of people reach out and say that they see similarities with their parents or with their children and I see similarities with my mom, too.”

“Growing up as an Indigenous woman, my mom was a young mother and an Indigenous woman,” she continued. “It’s not easy sometimes to move through life, so you’ve got to be really tough. But then there’s also a real love to my mom and a real playfulness and almost like a childlike wonder of the world.”

Rita’s a strong woman who, in the show’s second season, starts to finally find herself as a woman outside of her role as a mom. Podemski wanted to get the dynamic of her character correct. Rita’s a character that many can relate to, a mother to a rebellious teenage boy who also deals with her own challenges.

Podemski also discussed how great it was for her to play a character who finally finds joy, which we’ll see in Reservation Dogs Season 2. There are scenes where Rita is with her female family members, aunts, and friends, who all find strength and compassion together.

She’s especially excited for the release of one episode that focuses primarily on the lives of women living on the Reservation. “It’s really a historic episode, one of the episodes where it’s mostly a group of Native women. It’s an episode directed by Tazbah Chavez, and you can just look forward to seeing a really kick-ass group of Native women shining so bright,” Podemski noted.

When I asked her what she’s excited for fans to see in Reservation Dogs Season 2, Podemski answered, “I think that that’s the most exciting thing is that I don’t necessarily see it as only Rita’s story, it’s like we finally get to dive into the aunties and the women of Reservation Dogs.”

Besides her role on Reservation Dogs, Podemski also plays Kayla in SyFy’s Resident Alien. Podemski remarked on the similarities between her characters: “My favorite (part) about both shows are the ideas about humanity, family, and community and being part of that. That’s a real theme for both shows.”

Her character Kayla in Resident Alien is also a busy mom like Rita, someone who’s looking to balance her family life with her professional life. 

The character development of Rita and Kayla follows a similar trajectory.

“Even with my character in Resident Alien, it’s very similar to what’s happening with Rita where we are getting to see a bit more of Kayla, as a woman (and) not just as a mother,” Podemski said. “It’s really interesting that both of these shows, both of those characters have had parallel story arches where these women are finding themselves while they’re on their journey of motherhood.”

The first half of Resident Alien Season 2 aired in February and March 2022. According to Podemski, fans can look forward to many twists and turns in the second half which resumes in August.

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*Featured image credit: Jaclyn Vogl

Reservation Dogs airs Wednesdays starting August 3rd on Hulu. 

Resident Alien returns Wednesday, August 10th on Syfy.

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