Reservation Dogs writer and actor Dallas Goldtooth knows what it feels like to work your way up in Hollywood. His career has gained momentum over the past few years with roles in major projects like Fallout, Dexter and Ghosts, but he still remembers what it was like to be a background actor, just hoping to get some fleeting screentime. So, on the set of The Last Frontier, he found a unique way to help some Native background actors.
Goldtooth, who plays a Deputy US Marshal named Hutch on Last Frontier, which just finished its run on the 2025 TV schedule, worked with the assistant director on the series, and he asked if he would be okay with him having Native background actors as the secondary cops in scenes where he’s giving briefings or investigating. He got the thumbs up and was able to give a bunch of Native actors bits of screentime. Here’s how he explained it when we talked during a recent interview…
It’s really minor, but anytime you see me on screen and there’s cops with me, I made it a point to make sure that they’re Native background actors… I know the life of a background actor, and that sliver of a moment of getting screentime is getting immense. I wanted to support and foster an environment where we feel, as Native actors, welcomed in this space. I would pull them in and say, ‘These are the folks I want behind me in this scene.’
During our conversation, Goldtooth and I talked a lot about Native representation and how it’s not always about playing a character that loudly talks about being Native. A lot of his favorite roles from Native actors are roles that, in theory, could have gone to anyone and were played wonderfully by a Native actor who was cast in the role, such as Graham Greene in the extremely fun Die Hard With A Vengeance.
As for The Last Frontier, it just aired the tenth and final episode of its first season, and you can stream it all with an Apple TV+ subscription. The story follows the aftermath of a crash involving a prisoner transport plane in remote Alaska. A team of US Marshals led by Jason Clarke must hunt them down, but it becomes complicated when the CIA gets involved upon realizing one of their assets escaped and may have actually caused the crash.
The show picked up a lot of fans along the way, but its middling reviews make it unclear whether it’ll get renewed and hit the Apple TV schedule for a second season. The streamer tends to give a lot of shows time to grow and find an audience, but it’s unclear if this one will get as much rope since the reviews were only middling.
If you’re into high-intensity action and/ or manhunt style cop shows, this one will likely be a good fit for you.
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