From co-creators Ed Helms, Michael Schur and Sierra Teller Ornelas, who’s also the showrunner, the second season of the Peacock comedy series Rutherford Falls sees its residents dealing with major changes to the small town and the Native American reservation that it borders. While Tribal Casino CEO Terry Thomas (Michael Greyeyes) is focused on progress, there is no shortage of bonkers shenanigans when it comes to best friends Nathan Rutherford (Helms) and Reagan Wells (Jana Schmieding).
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Schmieding talked about what she learned from making the first season, the fun of getting to play more in Season 2, why this show has been the joy of her life, the fun of getting to do a holiday episode, figuring out the perfect Halloween costume, weaving Native culture into the series, and how episode 205, “Adirondack S3" (which she co-wrote), came about.
Collider: You’ve taken quite a journey with this show, going from staff writer to one of the leads. What did you learn from doing and finishing the first season that you feel really carried over into Season 2?
JANA SCHMIEDING: So much. I mean, everything. Last season was my first season of TV, ever. Season 2 was just an opportunity to exercise the things that we had learned as a writers’ room, and as a cast and crew. It felt like the cohesion, just in general, was so much better, not because it was bad in the first season, but it was just new and we were doing it during a pandemic. And so, by the second season, in front of the camera and behind, it felt like, “All right, we’re back together. We know what we’re doing. We have created a community. We have created this universe and this world, so now let’s play with it.” We had a really good time making it.
It also feels like comedy gets a certain rhythm to it, and you’re all really funny people. Do you feel like you’ve found your own comedy niche on this show now? Do you know where you fit in, among all the other funny people on the show?
SCHMIEDING: Yes, absolutely. There is that feeling of living in Reagan, the character, a little bit more and pushing the things a little bit further, on all the Reagan-isms. With her nervousness and her thirst for life, there’s just this earnestness that she has. Being able to play with that, and also being able to play with Ed [Helms] a lot more, was a really fun opportunity. Reagan gets to play with all the characters a lot, and that part is really exciting for me. It’s honestly the joy of my life to be able to work with these amazing artists and performers, and to have a rapport with each of them, both on screen and off.
One of my absolute favorite things this season is that you have a Halloween episode. I love holiday episodes so much that I’ve been known to watch holiday episodes of shows I’ve never seen any other episodes of just because I love holiday episodes, and Halloween is my favorite holiday.
SCHMIEDING: I’m so glad that I have one to fit into your holiday viewing experience.
It seems like there have been less holiday episodes with streaming, so how did that episode come about?
SCHMIEDING: I will say that it was one writer, Tai Leclaire, who is our Mohawk writer on the show, who really pushed the Halloween episode. Him and (show creator) Sierra [Teller Ornelas] both love holiday episodes, like you. Sierra really wanted the experience of creating a sitcom, just giving this second season an opportunity to be super funny, and for each episode to not necessarily have to educate or world build. We just wanted to have a good time. Also, in terms of the Native community and problematic holidays, Halloween is the one. It gave us an opportunity to have a good time and to play with stereotypes, but also just have a party on the res. A Halloween episode gave us a lot to work with.
I also feel like you can learn so much about a person by their Halloween costume. Did you have any say in your costume? Was Reagan always going to be ketchup to a hot dog?
SCHMIEDING: Originally, it was ketchup and a hot dog. That was the first thing that we threw out. And then, we tried like a bunch of different things. We were like, “What about Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson?” We played with a lot of different things, but it just seemed like ketchup and a hot dog was easy and fun. It was goofy. And then, it gave us the opportunity to have the condiments we needed. We needed an ensemble of costumes to play with because we have the whole element of the other women trying to push their way into this relationship.
What was it even like to do that scene? Does it ever feel completely bizarre, surreal and ridiculous, when you are doing scenes where you’re dressed as ketchup with a hot dog and condiments?
SCHMIEDING: It was the joy of my life. The Halloween episode was maybe one of the funnest to shoot because it felt like doing theater a little bit. I had to do my own stunts. I had to take a kick to the face, which was so fun for me. When you think about doing comedy and you think about being a performer on a TV show, you’re like, “Wow, I’ll get to do stand there and do fun jokes, but they’re never gonna put me in an action sequence.” Well, we got a little action sequence.” Or you think, “They’re never gonna dress me up in an outlandish costume because Reagan is so buttoned up and zipped up.” And then, we put her in a crazy costume. We really were just having a good time and leaning into the fun.
I also thought that the storyline with Reagan applying for a plot of land was so interesting. What’s it like to get to be a part of a show, where you can even have a storyline like that?
SCHMIEDING: It’s awesome. All the Native writers on the show come from different tribal nations, but we’ve all had similar experiences navigating tribal bureaucracy, what it’s like to get your tribal ID, and how, when you’re federally enrolled, you have to go into a tribal office. There are all of these different experiences that we share, so it’s about creating an amalgamation of all of our hilarious experiences in Indian country, amongst Natives in the community. There are all of these fun, hilarious jokes that we already have. Now, it’s just a matter of transferring them to the page, and then onto the screen. I’m so delighted that the rest of the world gets to be let in on the joke.
How did Adirondack come about?
SCHMIEDING: I’m so glad you asked that. I co-wrote that episode with Matt Murray, so it was my episode. I feel a special kinship with that episode. It came about because Adirondack is an amalgamation of a lot of different modern westerns and old westerns. The way in which Native people are treated on television, when we are not part of creating the narrative, and a lot of us Native writers, before being staffed on shows, our only exposure to TV and TV writing is being consultants, we’ve been unpaid and underpaid consultants on all the movies and TV shows that have Native characters in them. It was our homage to those writers. It was out little gift to Native Hollywood. Look at how far we’ve come and the stuff we’ve had to endure to get here.
Did you intentionally want to create a TV show within the show that you would never find yourself watching, if you had the choice?
SCHMIEDING: Yeah. I don’t really watch a lot of westerns, but my parents do. Another part of the joke is that a lot of us do watch those shows and a lot of us are on those shows. Those are the opportunities that we’ve been given. That’s why we need to be able to tell our own stories. If those stories are going to be the stories that are told about us, fine, but we need to also have an opportunity to write on them and showcase what we can do. We can expose truths in a silly way, and that’s just one of the many ways.
Rutherford Falls is available to stream at Peacock.