Marshals: Gil Birmingham on Rainwater’s Conflicting Pursuit of Power

I stood at the center of the Marshals’ fictional headquarters, steps away from the old mill fireplace and its crumbling rock facade, when Gil Birmingham walked onto the set wearing one of his character’s signature three-piece suits.

As the actor joined Critics Choice Association members for a roundtable interview, he was met with a chorus of appreciation for his work on everything from Dark Matter to his time in the Twilight films.

However, that day, we were sitting across from Birmingham at a table littered with discarded case files to discuss the latest of his acting accomplishments — reprising his role as Thomas Rainwater in the Yellowstone spinoff, Marshals.

The Duttons didn’t just sell the ranch to Chief Thomas Rainwater of the Broken Rock Reservation in the final season of Yellowstone. They set into motion a new land battle that would require its own show to sufficiently explore.

That started with a change in format from a long-form character drama to the procedural case study CBS’ Marshals has embraced: “The way we described it would be like a movie divided into ten episodes, and they would have condensed storylines like on a procedural.”

“It’s a much faster pace — so you don’t have the time allotment to really kind of play the characters out, I think as much because the format is different,” Birmingham revealed.

However, with that change comes a shift in focus from the Dutton Ranch to the Broken Rock Reservation.

“I think another difference between Yellowstone and this show is that we’re exploring more internal dynamics on the reservation,” the actor confirmed. “We didn’t really have aspects this complex that actually do happen in reality, because they just weren’t depicted that way.”

According to Birmingham, Season 2 of Marshals will “delve into some of those dynamics.”

“There are members that have agendas of their own that’ll be challenging Rainwater and Mo. That’s kind of exciting because nobody really gets to see that type of portrayal. We are also introducing rodeo work, and there’s a lot of rodeo events on a reservation. Some of my favorite events include the relay races.”

“Mo in particular is a Cowboy Indian. So he was raised with it, but a lot of people don’t see that aspect of the culture, so that’s pretty exciting to portray that.”

Another big change this spinoff brings to Rainwater’s story is the promotion of the politician’s closest confidant.

“In Yellowstone, Mo was my driver. So we didn’t have the cultural anchor as we do now with Mo, because I don’t think Taylor was aware that Mo was an elder of the Lakota Nations. And then once that happened, we had this distinction between the politician and the strategist of Rainwater, who was not raised in the culture, and neither was I,” he explained.

“So it’s almost like art imitating life, as Mo became the spiritual anchor for Rainwater in terms of his agenda and how he’s committed now to live the life that would be called the Red Road.”

“He learns the White man’s ways, and now he knows how to strategize for the benefit of his people. And then Mo’s there for the support and the cultural anchor.”

Additionally, the acquisition of Broken Rock’s land has created conflicting moral and financial obligations for Rainwater, who has to uphold the reservation’s best interests.

“There’s a whole stewardship involved now. There’s revenue that it takes to maintain a land like that. And that’s part of the challenge that Rainwater’s going to have now. Okay, you’re in charge of the land. Are you going to sustain it? Are you going to protect it? Because there’s still outside forces constantly.”

Birmingham explained the show is shedding light on everyday injustices real people in Rainwater’s position are facing. Mining and farming companies are draining resources from Native land without paying for it, while American treaties and the judicial system fail to put an end to the inequity the reservations are facing. 

It forces diplomats like Rainwater into a moral battle to decide between preserving the land of his ancestors or using it for monetary gain before someone else does so without permission.

“It is a difficult thing — there are traditionalists who feel like all minerals and everything should be kept right where they are. But those are the resources that are of great monetary value. So how do you raise revenue?” Birmingham asked.

“It’s trying to develop some kind of industry.”

It’s perhaps the richest storyline Marshals has to tap into, replacing the money-hungry ranchers with an Indigenous man who is both an educated Harvard diplomat and a High Chief with an entire culture to reckon with if he fails.

That internal conflict for Rainwater is something Birmingham said we will “encounter a number of times in this season.”

“There’s efficiencies you can make to get things done, but does its means justify the ends? Then you have to look at the world that you’re operating in and the sacrifices you’ll be making if you don’t make tough decisions. That’s the interesting kind of face-off: how do you be the human you want to be when you’re operating in a world where humanity has lost itself,” the actor professed.

“I think that’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned is how heavy that load is, that he’s responsible for the welfare — psychologically, spiritually, economically. And then you’re getting monetary influxes that are necessary to sustain, but now they’re crossing moral ambiguity and that makes it tough for him.”

For the actor, it’s the best of both worlds: “We make shows primarily for entertainment. And then if you’re lucky, you can maybe do a little bit of educating.”

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Marshals airs Sundays at 8/9c on CBS and is available to stream on Paramount+.

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