‘Big Sky’ Producers Reply to Criticism from Indigenous Groups Over Lack of Representation

ABC‘s new David E. Kelley drama Big Sky is facing backlash from Indigenous communities over lack of representation. The series, which stars Ryan Phillippe, Katheryn Winnick, and Kylie Bunbury, is facing criticism for failing to include characters that reflect the tribal population who live in the area where much of Big Sky takes place. After calls to action from the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, Global Indigenous Council, The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs and The Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association, the producers behind the series have issued a response, but they’re being called upon to do more, Variety reports.

In a statement released yesterday, Big Sky creators said their “eyes had been opened” to the issue of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women & Girls (MMIWG). “After meaningful conversations with representatives of the Indigenous community, our eyes have been opened to the outsized number of Native American and Indigenous women who go missing and are murdered each year, a sad and shocking fact,” the executive producers said, per the Hollywood Reporter. “We are grateful for this education and are working with Indigenous groups to help bring attention to this important issue.”

After their statement was released, Tom Rodgers, president of the Global Indigenous Council (GIC), issued his own reply urging Big Sky to step up and increase their efforts to raise awareness of the violence against Indigenous women and girls.

“ABC Studios claimed it is working with Native Americans to fix the problem of ignoring the epidemic of violence against Native American women in its series, Big Sky,” he said in a statement. “We have not heard from the honchos at Big Sky, ABC Studios or parent company Disney. So we have no idea what they are talking about. If this is true, we would be very interested to hear exactly who ABC is working with, since it is curious that they do not name any purported Indigenous partners in their statement. In our culture, trust can only be earned not promised.”

Big Sky follows a private investigator and an ex-cop who pair up to solve the mystery of multiple women who disappear at a truck stop in Montana, a pattern they begin to notice after two white women go missing. Protests against the series began in mid-November, when the Indigenous groups called on ABC to “enter into a dialogue” about representation, citing statistics that tribal members make up only 7% of the Montana population, but 26% of missing people in the state are Native American.

Where to watch Big Sky