Welcome to My Favorite Scene ! In this series, IndieWire speaks to actors behind a few of our favorite television performances about their personal-best onscreen moment and how it came together. It’s been a year since the final season of “ Reservation Dogs ” premiered on FX , and even longer since the cast and crew worked on Sterlin Harjo’s FX series, but the show’s impact lingers and won’t soon be forgotten. Case in point: the welcome surprise of an Emmy nomination for 22-year-old D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, who plays Bear and has a weighty arc in Season 3.
“I’m very honored and very grateful for it,” Woon-A-Tai told IndieWire. “I was very honored for every single time we’ve been nominated for every award in the past, but to have recognition from the Emmys finally is a great feeling.” Season 3, Episode 2 finds Bear wandering the desert alone until he’s captured by a mysterious figure that turns out to be Maximus (Graham Greene) — an elder from his own home of Okern who now lives a paranoid, secluded life out West.
At first, Bear is terrified — in his defense, he’s tied up and blindfolded — but at night, he and Maximus look up at the stars together. “Why did they create us?” Bear asks, when Maximus tells him they are just “energy manifest.” “To prove a point, I guess,” Maximus says.
“That we could still love, through it all. Life’s tough. We should be proud that we can still love.
” When Maximus goes back inside, Bear turns to ru.