Last spring, a distinctive figure — dressed in snug trousers, cowboy boots, and a hat adorned with a rattlesnake band — made his way past a series of unassuming buildings north of downtown Tulsa.
A lively crew moved around him, the city skyline shimmering against the distant heat. The air was thick with the physical weight of the afternoon. You might have anticipated a lone train whistle, but even in Tulsa, life isn’t always a country song… oh wait, there it was.
That train whistle, however, was quite inconvenient. This unassuming apartment complex had been transformed into a television set for ‘The Lowdown,’ an eight-episode crime drama set to premiere soon. Trains, it seems, rarely heed the pleas of assistant directors for quiet. Ethan Hawke, the man in the distinct hat, stars as Lee Raybon, a relentless investigative journalist — a self-proclaimed ‘truthstorian’ — stirring up trouble in Tulsa as he delves into a puzzling death connected to one of the city’s most influential families.
Hawke strolled through the verdant courtyard, his face adorned with the prosthetic scars of a ‘truthstorian’s’ rough encounters. He entered a building to rehearse with the legendary character actor Graham Greene, who was delivering one of his final performances. All around, crew members in headsets hurried, waited, or sought refuge from the sun in the video tent.
Sterlin Harjo, the show’s creator and showrunner, approached, wearing his own flat-brimmed hat and tinted glasses, with large diamond studs glittering in his earlobes. He surveyed the scene.
“It feels strangely familiar, like being back on ‘Reservation Dogs,’” he remarked.
He was reminiscing about the humble brown brick houses under Oklahoma’s vast sky; the presence of the esteemed Native actor Greene, who would sadly pass away a few months later after guest-starring; and the close-knit, almost family-like crew that had helped Harjo transform ‘Reservation Dogs,’ which aired from 2021 to 2023, into one of the most celebrated television shows of the last decade.
Co-created by Harjo and Taika Waititi, this series chronicled the adventures of four friends and their wider community on an Oklahoma reservation. It painted a unique world seldom depicted on television, constrained by socioeconomic realities yet vibrant with lives that defied those limitations. The show was clearly the creation of someone deeply familiar with these places and their inhabitants, having grown up among them — simultaneously moving, poignant, and hilariously authentic.
‘Reservation Dogs’ never quite broke through as a ratings phenomenon or an Emmy favorite, despite earning five nominations and no wins across its three seasons. Nevertheless, it garnered immense love from its audience and critics alike. Its numerous accolades, including Peabody Awards in 2021 and 2023, and Harjo’s 2024 MacArthur Fellowship, cemented the 45-year-old creator’s status as one of television’s most gifted and distinctive voices.
This success provided him with the influence to helm a large-scale, ambitious series filmed entirely in his adopted city. ‘The Lowdown’ is a crime noir, born from Harjo’s passion for the genre, combining the intense style of hard-boiled authors like Jim Thompson (whose narratives play a key role) with the laid-back rhythm reminiscent of Robert Altman’s ‘The Long Goodbye.’ Much like ‘Reservation Dogs,’ this new series is imbued with Harjo’s profound attachment to its location. While he grew up 90 miles south in Holdenville, Oklahoma, he has called Tulsa home for 18 years, proclaiming it ‘my favorite place in the world.’
“Everything I create holds a personal connection for me,” he explained. “If ‘Reservation Dogs’ explored the rural experience, this show is about the city.”
Despite any similarities, Harjo is not simply revisiting ‘Reservation Dogs.’ He has moved past being an unknown creator working with a largely unknown cast and limited budgets on a half-hour show that network executives might not have felt equipped to critique. Now, he’s charting new territory.
“They couldn’t offer many notes because it was a Native show,” Hawke quipped during a filming break, a stark, angry gash visible on his nose from makeup. “But when you’re tackling a detective drama, suddenly everyone has an opinion on how it should be done.”
Hawke fronts an impressive Hollywood ensemble, featuring talents like Keith David, Kyle MacLachlan, and three notable Oklahomans: Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tim Blake Nelson, and Tracy Letts. FX has invested heavily in promoting the series, which boasts hour-long episodes and a visibly expansive production, with filming across more than 30 locations throughout Tulsa and its surroundings.
Essentially, while surrounded by his expansive production, Harjo also found himself in a more delicate position: that of a celebrated television auteur delivering an expensive follow-up to his breakout hit. Those unaware of the potential challenges involved might not recall shows like ‘John From Cincinnati,’ ‘The Romanoffs,’ or ‘Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip’ – examples of ambitious projects that came right after acclaimed works like ‘Deadwood,’ ‘Mad Men,’ and ‘The West Wing’ in their creators’ filmographies, often with mixed results.
What offers Harjo a strong likelihood of sidestepping such a fate — indeed, initial reviews for ‘The Lowdown’ have been largely positive — is his decision to leverage his newfound influence on a more ambitious, star-studded narrative that remains deeply rooted in his hometown. His depiction of Tulsa, much like the actual city, is rich with layers of corruption and a dark history — the tragic Tulsa Race Massacre site lies just a mile from the production’s hub. Yet, it also resonates with the unique magic and mythology that have consistently drawn artists and unconventional spirits to the city.
In essence, ‘The Lowdown’ is undeniably the creation of someone who possesses an intimate understanding of this place and its inhabitants – it’s a series that is suspenseful and moving, yet also wonderfully funny.
“I aim to portray my vision of home on screen,” he stated. “For me, pleasant, idealized portrayals of a place just aren’t compelling. I want to capture the full spectrum, which is why noir serves as my chosen approach; it allows for the exploration of every facet.”
“It’s about peeling back the layers and discovering what lies hidden beneath the surface.”
The vibrant core of ‘The Lowdown,’ both physically and narratively, is situated on a stretch of East Sixth Street. Here, set designers have transformed a series of old buildings into the base for Ethan Hawke’s character, Lee, and, behind the scenes, the production’s own operations.
The show is rich with tributes to earlier Tulsa-based works. For instance, Sweet Emily’s, a perfectly rendered late-night diner, gets its name from a song by the renowned singer-songwriter Leon Russell, a key figure in developing the distinctive blues-rock-country blend known as the Tulsa Sound. Interestingly, the series’ initial title, ‘The Sensitive Kind,’ was also a nod to a song by J.J. Cale, another artist from that era, though FX ultimately deemed it challenging for promotion.
Inside the diner, the wallpaper subtly features scenes from ‘Reservation Dogs’ – look closely and you might spot Spirit on his horse. The clock itself is a direct reference to ‘Rumble Fish,’ Francis Ford Coppola’s second film adaptation of Tulsa novelist S.E. Hinton’s work. (Harjo, for his part, can passionately discuss Coppola’s first adaptation, ‘The Outsiders,’ at length.)
Adjacent to the diner are a makeshift record store, Lee’s lawyer’s office, and his cluttered bookstore. Behind the register, a poster for Larry Clark’s famously raw photo collection ‘Tulsa’ is prominently displayed.
“The beauty of it is that you don’t need to be from Tulsa to enjoy it,” Tripplehorn commented. “But if you are, it truly becomes something extraordinary.” The actress, portraying a mysterious wealthy widow, is a Tulsa native herself, and her musician father was a contemporary of figures like Russell.
Harjo originally envisioned ‘The Lowdown’ as a feature film years ago. However, as ‘Reservation Dogs’ concluded its run, FX was keen on developing another series with him. He presented the concept to Hawke when the actor was in town filming a guest appearance for the final season of ‘Reservation Dogs.’
“Once filming wrapped, Sterlin and I took a long walk through Tulsa, and he shared his vision for the show,” Hawke reminisced. “It immediately struck me as a brilliant concept.”
‘The Lowdown’ premieres in the same week as a new season of ‘Tulsa King,’ a Paramount+ drama featuring Sylvester Stallone as a crime boss. Notably, ‘Tulsa King’ relocated its production from Oklahoma after its first season— a move unimaginable for Harjo, who holds a near-spiritual conviction in the significance of a story’s setting.
“If you’re just filming exteriors, you might as well be making an episode of ‘Friends,’” he asserted, recalling ‘The One With Christmas in Tulsa’ from Season 9 of the sitcom. Sylvester Stallone once publicly declared, ‘Being in Oklahoma has prepared me for a lifetime in hell,’ a reference to the intense heat. Harjo’s production company has since immortalized this quote on a popular T-shirt.
Harjo has an extensive filmography of five features — three narrative and two documentaries — each meticulously set and shot in Oklahoma. However, it was his experience creating video shorts in the 2010s for This Land Press, a now-defunct Tulsa magazine, that most profoundly shaped ‘The Lowdown.’
Lee Raybon’s character draws inspiration from Lee Roy Chapman, a writer and activist with whom Harjo collaborated at the magazine. Chapman was pivotal in bringing to light some of Tulsa’s most shadowed historical events, referring to himself as a ‘history recovery specialist.’
Among these historical events was the horrific Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, a brutal, coordinated assault by white citizens that devastated Greenwood, a thriving Black neighborhood, and claimed up to 300 lives. Chapman also uncovered that W. Tate Brady, one of the city’s founders, had been a member of the Ku Klux Klan and participated in the massacre, leading to the renaming of several local landmarks previously bearing his name.
“Tulsa has a history of avoiding its past, and Lee Roy directly challenged this at a time when many preferred to forget,” noted Michael Mason, founder of This Land Press and Chapman’s former editor.
Chapman tragically died by suicide in 2015, but his legacy endures through the Center for Public Secrets, a journalism education center now directed by his sister, Whitney Chapman. His writings are accessible on the center’s website, and he can still be seen in Harjo’s online videos, sporting a full beard and a flat-brim fedora, navigating the city in a well-worn white van — much like the one Hawke’s character drives in ‘The Lowdown.’ (In the series, The Heartland Press serves as a stand-in for This Land Press, and Harjo even brought back many original staff members to film a scene in the magazine’s former office.)
In an era plagued by social media misinformation, the quest for truth has become increasingly intricate. This complexity is precisely why Harjo believed it would be a compelling foundation for a television series. “Witnessing someone grapple to uncover the truth is something I believe we all deeply need and can draw inspiration from during these uncertain times,” he articulated.
Furthermore, with recent orders from the Trump Administration instructing institutions like the Smithsonian and National Park Service to modify or remove content pertaining to slavery and Native Americans, historical revisionism is now occurring at the highest echelons.
“We are navigating a truly fascinating political landscape,” stated Keith David, who portrays a private investigator who grows to respect Lee’s unwavering principles. “The harder they try to conceal these matters, the more inevitably the truth will surface.”
“That’s what I truly appreciate about ‘The Lowdown,’” he added. “It promises to reveal even more.”
Initially, ‘The Lowdown’ appears to be a deliberate departure from the Native American narratives that first established Harjo’s esteemed reputation.
While the ensemble cast is diverse, it prominently features well-known, non-Native actors. The subplot most directly influenced by Harjo’s personal life revolves around Lee’s shared custody of his daughter, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong, echoing Harjo’s own experiences as a young father. (His eldest daughter, now an adult, works at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, and he has two other school-aged children.)
Yet, the presence of Graham Greene on set that day, reprising a memorable subplot from the final season of ‘Reservation Dogs,’ added a curious layer to this new venture.
When questioned, Hawke remarked, “There’s no valid reason to confine Sterlin to creating only art about his heritage. It’s simply not fair. I believe a part of him desires to break free from such expectations.”
“However,” Hawke continued, “another aspect of him is so profoundly connected to and invested in his community that it inevitably finds its way into his work, regardless.”
Harjo only offered that, in true noir style, ‘The Lowdown’ begins with a single mysterious death but slowly escalates into ‘something far grander and more ancient,’ involving additional casualties and increasingly perilous challenges separating Lee from the ultimate truth.
“Land deals, deaths… clichés,” a character observes at one point, delivering a humorous meta-commentary on the show’s unapologetic embrace of genre tropes. Yet, as always, Harjo infuses them with his distinctive touch.
“During ‘Reservation Dogs,’ there was much discussion about how people loved its blend of humor and drama,” he recounted. “But honestly, I don’t know how else to create.”
“With ‘Reservation Dogs,’ I felt the cultural weight of presenting the first show of its kind, a responsibility to represent a community,” he further explained. “That was immensely challenging, and it’s not the path I’m taking here. Instead, I’m simply aiming to tell a story through my unique lens, one that also happens to be set in a city I hold dear.”