[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for The Lowdown.]

Summary

The FX series ‘The Lowdown’ is a crime drama that mixes dark humor and community heart and is set in Tulsa Oklahoma.

At the center of the series is Lee Raybon, played by Ethan Hawke, as a relentless “truthstorian” who’s seeking the truth about Dale Washberg’s death.

‘The Lowdown’ showcases an ensemble of colorful characters, including Donald Washberg and his late brother’s widow, Betty Jo.

Creator/writer/director/EP Sterlin Harjo was the showrunner for the three-season comedy series Reservation Dogs that followed four Indigenous teenage friends living on a reservation in Oklahoma. His time on that gave him more confidence in what he could do, allowed him to experiment and have fun, and led to actors reaching out to work with him. Now with FX’s The Lowdown, citizen journalist Lee Raybon (Ethan Hawke, who’s also an EP), a self-proclaimed truthstorian in Tulsa, Oklahoma, becomes interested in the mysterious death of the Washberg family black sheep, Dale (Tim Blake Nelson), and turns his attention to an investigation for answers. That search spirals out of control as it leads him down a path lined with Dale’s older brother Donald (Kyle MacLachlan), his grieving widow Betty Jo (Jeanna Tripplehorn), a white supremacist church leader (Paul Sparks), and a private investigator (Keith David). And while Lee is basically a good guy with his heart in the right place, his knack for attracting danger and getting himself beaten up puts him at risk for disappointing his daughter Francis (Ryan Kiera Armstrong). During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Harjo discussed the films that have most influenced him, the David Lynch class he took at the University of Oklahoma, why he likes to create a fun vibe on set, what it’s like to have actors reaching out that want to work with him, how directing episodes of The Lowdown compared to when he did Rez Dogs, why he wanted Donald Washberg to be a complex man with a good heart who sometimes makes bad decisions, and the plan for how he could keep telling Lee Raybon’s story in future seasons.
‘The Lowdown’ Creator Sterlin Harjo Says the Movies That Influence Him the Most Are the Ones You Can Watch Repeatedly

“I’m happy if that’s happening with a show like this.”

Creator Sterlin Harjo and Ethan Hawke standing together on the red carpet for the premiere of The LowdownImage via FX

Collider: I love this show, and I love that I can rewatch it and keep taking new things from it. STERLIN HARJO: I love to hear that. You can’t really say that’s your goal because I don’t know how that works, but it is kind of the goal. The things that influenced me a lot are the type of things you can watch over and over. I can watch Inherent Vice over and over. I love The Long Goodbye and watch it over and over. The Big Lebowski I can watch over and over. True Romance I can watch over and over. Fury Road I can watch over and over. The Departed is like that for me. It’s a specific thing where the world is built and there’s so much in the world that you can feel and take from and get out of it by paying attention to other things as you’re watching it. I’m not sure what that is, but I’m happy if that’s happening with a show like this. My favorite TV series of all time is Twin Peaks. That series changed my life and it changed how I view storytelling, and it did so because David Lynch had such a specific vision that was so unique to him. And I feel the same way about the way you tell stories. You’ve created this world where a character is dead from the start and everyone is trying to learn more about them, there are these eccentric and mysterious characters around town, and there’s even a diner. It’s also a very unique world and I can’t imagine anyone else telling the story of these particular characters. Since you’re also a fan of Twin Peaks, did you watch it when it aired or did you discover it later? HARJO: I’m a big fan of Twin Peaks. I did not see it when it came out, but when I went to the University of Oklahoma, I wish I could remember the teacher’s name, but I had a David Lynch class and we watched everything. We just had deep discussions about everything. I was a fan of all his stuff, down to The Straight Story. I’m just such a fan. His style of storytelling got its teeth in me through that class, but there’s also something about the poetry of the way he tells a story, especially a longer story, that for some reason, feels like how I grew up hearing stories. It feels like my family. I don’t consider myself as good as David Lynch, but I think we both build a world. If you’re into world building and specificity like that and everything matters, and then you tell a story in that world, it’s got to feel singular. It’s going to feel like you. I try not to hide my influences. I owe everything to my influences. I wish I could have met David Lynch. I have friends that worked with him, and of course, Kyle [MacLachlan]. One of the sweetest things Kyle and Eric Edelstein said is that they hadn’t felt like that on set since David Lynch’s sets. I don’t know what that means, other than trying to be a good person and tell stories and trying to capture the visual poetry of the world around you. I’m always honored to be even mentioned in the same sentence. When I spoke to Tracy Letts about The Lowdown, he mentioned that you would bring your guitar to set and sing. Why is it important to you to create that type of atmosphere? HARJO: I don’t understand how other people do this shit without having fun. If people aren’t enjoying their time, I don’t think they give you the goods. I try to just create a really fun working environment, so when people wake up in the morning, they’re excited to be there. It’s hard work no matter how you do it, so we might as well have a good time. Everyone really falls in and loves that. In the end, we leave these things, and the shows will be here after I’m gone, but for me, what’s important is the experience of making it. It’s out of my control, whether people like it or not. I can control providing a good time while we make it. To me, that’s the most important thing. Tracy Letts said that he specifically sought out wanting to meet and work with you. Jeanne Tripplehorn told me that she had pursued you to do this series. As you’ve gotten to tell more stories and people have seen the kind of storyteller you are, are you getting more of those phone calls and requests from really talented actors who want to be a part of your projects? HARJO: Yeah. There’s this cool thing that’s happened where these legends want to meet me. I’m just here in Tulsa, and I’d love to meet them. I think that they recognize the writing. That’s what I have to chalk it up to. It’s just really nice. The way that my brain works, I have to remind myself to enjoy things. I’m really happy that I’m like this because I don’t get too in my head about expectations. I just do what I do, and that’s because I can disconnect myself from feedback from what people think of me or the show. But I almost have to do the opposite to remind myself to enjoy things. So, whenever people reach out to me, I have to remind myself, “You were watching this person in junior high. You have to enjoy this and make the most of it, and fly to L.A. or whatever you’ve got to do. Go have dinner with this person because young you would be blown away.” I have to remind myself of that.
‘The Lowdown’ Creator Sterlin Harjo Directed the First Block of Episodes to Set the Tone and Vibe

“And then, at the end, I can come in and help land the plane.”

Kyle MacLachlan as Donald Washberg standing across from Ethan Hawke as Lee Raybon in The LowdownImage via FX

It makes perfect sense to me that you would want to direct the first block of episodes of The Lowdown, so that you could establish the look and feel of the series the way you wanted it. It also makes sense that you’d want to direct the finale to wrap it up at the end. Was that something you always knew you wanted to do with this? HARJO: Yeah. There wasn’t much thought put into it. I did it on Rez Dogs. I try to do the first to help set the tone and also the vibe of the set and get the crew and everybody into it and jazzed about what we’re doing. And then, at the end, I can come in and help land the plane. It just makes sense. And I think we really did on this show. I love the finale. I wrote it with my friend, Liz Blood, which is very exciting for me. It’s her first episode of TV that she’s written. There were a lot of proud moments. Did directing this show feel different or more challenging than directing Rez Dogs? HARJO: In some ways, yes. I also had more fun with this one because I’m more confident in what I can do. And also, if this fails, I can always say that I made Rez Dogs. You can never take that away from me. There’s less pressure. As far as directing goes, I am able to experiment and have more fun, so that definitely feels different. You’ve talked about how you never really saw yourself in the TV shows you watched, and you’ve clearly been changing that for other people. The thing that I love about your storytelling is how you weave in the beauty and the ugliness. We learn that Donald Washberg is trying to do a land deal with land that doesn’t actually belong to him, but then you have a moment where we get to see and hear a drum circle. There are these constant reminders of the beauty of culture and tradition juxtaposed with someone with wealth and power trying to bulldoze that away. What has been most important to you in putting that representation on screen in the most authentic way possible? What are you most proud of when it comes to what you were able to do with this series? HARJO: Donald is an interesting character because with social media and podcasts and opinions and everything out there, it’s so easy to be divisive and say, “You’re with this group, and I’m with this group,” when most of us are just trying to figure it out. Most of us want things to work out for the positive. Most of us want people to get along. Most of us don’t want division. Most of us want to come together and figure this out together. Most of us realize that we’re on a ball that’s hurtling around the sun. Most of us want the best for the world and everybody. That’s not what we see because that’s not what sells. I wanted to show Donald Washberg as a man who’s complex and doesn’t always make the right decisions, but he does have a good heart and he cares. He can make the right decision. Sometimes, that right decision has to benefit him, but he also has morality. When he’s doing the land run, he’s embarrassed when the protesters come. He knows Irene by name, which tells you that they have a history. He knows her. He knows her family. He has such a comfortability level with her that he just calls her Irene. He’s apologizing and he feels bad. In another group in a room full of white people, he wouldn’t feel bad because there’s pride in that same thing that, to other people, is offensive. The show is about trying to thread those needles and talk about the nuance of humans and culture, and cultures that are coming together. That is a big thing that happens in Oklahoma. We have all this culture that’s colliding and crashing together. It was a perfect place to tell this story. I just think that Donald is a good representation of that. He isn’t all bad. You can change and you can make right decisions.
‘The Lowdown’ Creator Sterlin Harjo Could Tell a New Story With Lee Raybon in Each Season

“That’s the beauty of this story.”

When we spoke before the season premiered, you said that there was a plan to continue this series. Would you do another season of this story with these characters? Would you want to tell more of Lee Raybon’s journey? HARJO: The Rockford Files did a new story with every episode. I could do a new story every season. That’s the beauty of this story. The characters that surround Lee on the block and his friends are all there still. They’re all entertaining. And also, he’s a journalist. What do journalists do? Well, they’ve got to move onto another story.

Release Date

September 23, 2025

Directors

Sterlin Harjo

Writers

Duffy Boudreau, Scott Teems, Sneha Koorse

The Lowdown airs on FX and is available to stream on Hulu. Check out the trailer: