The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors announced Friday that Native American filmmaker Sterlin Harjo—a citizen of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and of Mvskoke descent—will receive the prestigious Peabody Trailblazer Award at the 86th annual ceremony on May 31 in Beverly Hills, California.
In today’s primetime television landscape—crowded with formulaic cop dramas, recycled sitcom spinoffs, and reality dating competitions—middle America is rarely centered. The lives of Native and Indigenous people are even more overlooked.
What Sterlin Harjo has demonstrated, first with the remarkable three-season run of Reservation Dogs and now with the sprawling neo-noir The Lowdown, is that stories rooted in specific communities and places can resonate just as widely as any procedural—while carrying far greater emotional depth.
Harjo emerged through the Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program before building a career in independent film, shorts, and documentaries. He is also a founding member of the 1491s, an Indigenous sketch comedy collective whose influence can be felt throughout his television work. The path he’s forged is defined by two standout series grounded in humor, imagination, and a sharply defined worldview—one that affirms the dignity of contemporary Indigenous life while honoring traditions that stretch back generations.
Filmed in Oklahoma and staffed largely by Native crews, Harjo’s productions open a window into a part of America too often ignored. They serve as both invitation and indictment—inviting audiences into lived experiences they may not know, while reminding us of what is lost when those perspectives are excluded.
At the same time, Harjo is expanding opportunities behind the camera, cultivating a network of Indigenous collaborators including actors Kaniehtiio Horn, Casey Camp-Horinek, and Graham Greene; directors Danis Goulet, Sydney Freeland, and Tazbah Chavez; and writers Dallas Goldtooth and Ryan RedCorn.
Reservation Dogs follows a group of Native teenagers navigating the pull between staying in their tight-knit Oklahoma community—with its elders, humor, and complexity—or leaving for the imagined promise of California. The series blends sharp comedy with intimate storytelling, capturing both the tensions between Native residents and outsiders and the enduring weight of historical injustice. Season by season, it deepened its emotional reach, culminating in a finale that suggested identity and belonging—knowing who you are and where you come from—are anchors strong enough to carry you forward.
With The Lowdown, Harjo shifts tone while maintaining his focus. Ethan Hawke stars as Lee Raybon, a self-styled “truth-storian” investigating a powerful Tulsa family he believes has long concealed violence against the local Native population. What unfolds is not just a contemporary exposé, but a reckoning with older truths—about stolen land, generational power, and the systems that continue to obscure both. The series explores journalism, history, and the fragility of truth in a time when all three are under attack, while also underscoring the impact one determined voice can have.
Through both series, Harjo has expanded what television can be—placing Indigenous stories at the center with originality, care, and conviction. For pushing the boundaries of the medium while elevating voices too often left unheard, Sterlin Harjo stands as a true trailblazer.
