Lily Gladstone's Reservation Dogs Character Explained (& How Her Performance Compares To Killers Of The Flower Moon)

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Reservation Dogs

The following article contains discussions of suicide.

Lily Gladstone may be most famous for her performance in Killers of the Flower Moon, but she also had a significant role in Reservation Dogs. The acclaimed FX series ran for three seasons and tells the story of four Indigenous teens living on a reservation in rural Oklahoma who are all left reeling after the death of their friend Daniel, one year prior to the events of the show. Reservation Dogs was widely praised for its authentic depiction of Indigenous life, with the series featuring many Indigenous cast and crew members.

Prior to her work in Reservation Dogs, Gladstone had been acting in film and TV since 2012, including a recurring role on Billions as Roxanne. But it was her breakout performance as Mollie Burkhart in Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon that truly solidified Gladstone as a major star. Released in 2023, Killers of the Flower Moon depicts the true story of a series of murders of Osage tribe members in 1920s Oklahoma. The film had a polarizing reception, though Gladstone was universally praised. And her performance in Reservation Dogs is just as strong.

Lily Gladstone Plays Hotki, Daniel's Mother & Willie Jack's Auntie, In Reservation Dogs

Hokti Helps Willie Jack Through Her Grief

Lily Gladstone's Hokti Sampson is introduced in Reservation Dogs season 2, episode 9, "Offerings", when Willie Jack goes to visit her in prison. Both Hokti and Willie Jack are in a lot of pain over losing Daniel, who died by suicide, and his death has caused a wedge in Willie Jack's friend group. She visits Hokti for advice, and though Hokti initially doesn't want to see her because Willie Jack reminds her too much of Daniel, she agrees to pray to her ancestors with her niece.

No reason is given for Hokti's incarceration in Reservation Dogs .

What follows is an incredibly powerful scene on grief and moving forward while honoring the past and those we've lost. Using vending machine food as a metaphor, Gladstone delivers an inspiring monologue in which Hokti explains to Willie Jack that every person Daniel touched carries a piece of him with them, and how this means he can never be gone forever, especially when community, like what Willie Jack and the other Rez Dogs have, is strong.

Lily Gladstone's Reservation Dogs Episodes

Season 2, Episode 9	"Offerings"
Season 3, Episode 10	"Dig"

"Offerings" has been hailed as one of Reservation Dogs' best episodes, and Gladstone returned as Hokti in the Reservation Dogs series finale, "Dig". In the episode, Willie Jack visits Hokti again, this time with news that Old Man Fixico passed away. Hokti tells Willie Jack that it's up to her to care for her community in their time of grief, leading to Willie Jack's beautiful tribute speech at sunrise. Despite her incarceration, Hokti's wisdom and guidance have a positive ripple effect in her community, and the power of her words is amplified by Gladstone's tour de force performance.

How Gladstone's Reservation Dogs Performance Compares To Killers Of The Flower Moon

Gladstone Also Responded To Her Reservation Dogs Co-Star's Criticism Of Killers Of The Flower Moon

Though her performance in Reservation Dogs isn't nearly as famous as her Oscar-nominated turn in Killers of the Flower Moon, both of Gladstone's roles bear similarities. Not only are both Hokti and Mollie entrenched in grief — Hokti over her son and Mollie over the rash of murders in her community, including immediate family members — but both are imprisoned.

Killers of the Flower Moon won none of its 10 Oscar nominations.

Hokti is in a literal prison, while Mollie is trapped in a marriage, literally being poisoned by her husband. However, despite being "weakened", both Gladstone characters are the smartest people in the room. They see everything, and are pillars of their community — and both deserved way more screentime.

Reservation Dogs' Elora actress Devery Jacobs is among the many people who praised Gladstone's Killers of the Flower Moon performance. However, Jacobs slammed Killers of the Flower Moon as a whole, saying that she didn't believe the movie's Indigenous characters were shown with "honor or dignity" (via Variety), and that the "horrific portrayal of their deaths" was dehumanizing. Gladstone had a thoughtful response to her Reservation Dogs co-star's criticisms, saying,

[Jacobs'] reaction is a response to a lot of trauma that particularly Native women feel seeing these things for the first time,” Gladstone continued. “I had a lot of time acclimating myself to the script. The Osage people have had their lives to understand this history. The process of making this movie gave a lot of people a chance to speak. Ultimately, Osage reaction is what I care about the most.

Jacobs' comments are another illustration of how far Hollywood has to go in its depiction of Indigenous culture and daily life. Hopefully, more projects like Reservation Dogs, with Indigenous people in front of and behind the camera, continue to be greenlit.

Reservation Dogs is a Hulu original series about teenage Native American friends who grow up together on a reservation in Oklahoma. The series stars D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Paulina Alexis, Lane Factor, and Devery Jacobs as the four friends and was created by Sterlin Harjo and Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi.

Release Date August 9, 2021

Seasons 2

Killers of the Flower Moon is the next film from director Martin Scorsese, based on the non-fiction book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, initially captured by David Grann. When members of the Osage tribe are murdered in the 1920s via mysterious circumstances shortly after the discovery of oil on Native-American soil, the FBI is established to uncover the true reason behind them.

Studio(s) Paramount Pictures

Runtime 200minutes

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