‘Reservation Dogs’ Director Danis Goulet on Hitting the Road in Final Season Premiere

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Reservation Dogs Season 3, Episode 1, “BUSSIN’.”]

The Reservation Dogs are back as the third and final season of FX’s acclaimed series dropped its first two episodes on Hulu, and with it the start of a fresh chapter for the friends at the center of it all.

After traveling to Los Angeles to live out their late friend Daniel’s dream, Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Elora (Devery Jacobs), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis), and Cheese (Lane Factor) begin the season stranded until Aunt Teenie (Tamara Podemski) comes to escort them back home to Oklahoma. Before she arrives though, Bear takes an important step in leaving the negative relationship he has with his father behind, and White Jesus (Brandon Boyd from Incubus) bids them adieu after watching over the group following their harrowing L.A. adventure which included being carjacked and robbed.

“BUSSIN'” saw the friends hit the road and Spirit, William Knifeman (Dallas Goldtooth) orating the story of their journey in fun asides throughout the installment, captured fantastically by director Danis Goulet who previously helmed Season 2’s moving installment, “Mabel.” This time, she took on the road with the Rez Dogs. Below, she opens up about approaching the format, capturing vital moments on the road, and teases what’s ahead for the beloved characters as the third and final season continues to unfold.

(Credit: Shane Brown/FX)

The premiere marks a new chapter for the Rez Dogs and is framed by the storytelling of Spirit, William Knifeman. What kind of discussions did you have with Sterlin Harjo about the direction that this installment would take and how to present it to viewers because it essentially sets the tone for the season?

Danis Goulet: Yeah, I mean, Spirit is the observer of the kids’ lives, but obviously at the end of Season 2,  they got their goal of going to California, what they had always wanted to do for Daniel. And so I think there was a natural kind of ending and closure, they set out to do what they wanted to do. And so for me, the question was, what’s next with these characters? When you’ve gone through something you wanna do for catharsis or healing, in a way nothing’s changed. All of them still have their whole lives ahead of them [and they’re] asking themselves, what’s that gonna be?

I love that the episode felt to me like a [road trip movie] you know? Where you catch up with the characters, but because they were in the danger of L.A., once they land on the bus they’re finally in some sort of place of safety. And I felt like the bus itself was like this little container of safety where if you’ve been running and running and then you suddenly land somewhere, you get that chance to reflect on the question. And so each of the characters in different moments in their own ways are having conversations on the bus. And I sort of love the intimacy of it and the landscape going by, and then the presence of Spirit showing up to make himself be known. It was a really beautiful episode to shoot.

(Credit: Shane Brown/FX)

What are the challenges of directing a road trip episode like this where the friends are traveling from Los Angeles to Oklahoma by bus?

We shoot in the vicinity of Oklahoma, but it’s a matter of looking for the right stretch of highway. And it is a challenge shooting on a moving bus because what’s so great about the show is its naturalism. The show always feels real and tactile, and it’s so important to have that consistency. And so the show doesn’t usually throw up a green screen behind characters in a studio car or anything like that. We really put people on a bus and drove around. So logistically that’s challenging because it’s just very cramped quarters to get the work done. Also, it adds real challenges to your shooting schedule because there are always issues like the light’s going in the wrong direction or there’s a truck coming up and we have to pause or whatever.

Representing the journey they take on the bus is a visual map featuring different Indigenous groups across the country. That was included in Season 2’s finale episode as well. Was that scripted or something you and Sterlin decided to include after the fact?

I don’t remember them not being scripted, but I do remember having conversations with Sterlin about it. We definitely talked about it as a way to really show the journey because it needs to feel like they’ve gone from one place to another as the landscape changes and they’re arriving home. Another thing I really loved about the episode is just the characters you meet when you travel by bus. When you’re on the road going across America it’s a very specific environment, and so we really had a lot of fun with the character that talks to Cheese on the bus and the donut guy at the Texas bus station. And that part of it, the richness of the world, that’s always in the script.

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This episode really sets up the next chapter for the Rez Dogs. Where are they heading now?

There’s a lot going on for each of the characters. We are keeping in mind that we’re setting up their journey. So there are questions arising. Bear is a little bit apart from the group at the beginning of the episode, he needs to [face some things] on his own, and that takes him on a very solitary journey. And Elora is finding out information about her family that she’s never known before, and it’s actually really shocking what she discovers, that is certainly gonna continue to play out in the season. And then Cheese and Willie Jack are sort of sensing that they don’t think their group is gonna stay together forever, and we’re gonna see where that goes as well.

These are four incredibly unique and extremely talented young people that just bring so much to what they do and what they put on screen. I remember we were getting towards the end of their day where it was nighttime and we were shooting on the bus, and we really needed to wrap it up and we were setting up one more scene, and then the kids did a take. I just remember looking over to Sterlin and going, “Wow, man, Season 3, like, these kids have got it in the bag.” They know their characters so well, and they’re so seasoned. It’s been really amazing to see what they have been able to do, and it’s just such a joy to witness.

FX’s Reservation Dogs, Season 3, Wednesdays, Hulu