(This story includes spoilers for "Reservation Dogs.")

The third and final season of "Reservation Dogs" has been taking some bold swings.

After a second season that saw Bear (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Elora Danan (Devery Jacobs), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis) and Cheese (Lane Factor) set off on a cathartic cross-country road trip in honor of their late friend, the coming-of-age series, created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, has taken some time to explore the backstories of established characters outside of its core teen protagonists.

As the Rez Dogs continue to grapple with figuring out who they want to be, early episodes in Season 3 like "Deer Lady" and "House Made of Bongs" have revealed how a certain vigilante spirit and some of the community's elders became who they are.

Directors Danis Goulet and Blackhorse Lowe, who combined have directed four of the first six episodes of Season 3, have relished both the creative freedom and collaborative creative community they have experienced while working on "Reservation Dogs."

"I heard a lot of horror stories about what it's like to work on the television side, especially if you've come up in independent film," said Goulet, a Cree-Métis filmmaker who previously directed the Season 2 episode "Mabel." "But coming onto 'Reservation Dogs' was the opposite of that experience. It was like being embraced by this incredibly supportive community in Oklahoma of everyone that is so passionate about telling these stories."

"The great thing about shooting in Oklahoma, it's just so community-based, and the heart and soul of the story is all there," added Lowe, a Navajo filmmaker who has worked on the show since its first season. "I think out of all my television experiences, this is the one I'm most spoiled on because Sterlin gives us the most creative control to get the job done. Having his support, along with everyone in FX, it's a very good place to be."This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Blackhorse, you've been with the show since Season 1. What was working on that first season like before anybody even knew a show like "Reservation Dogs" was possible?

Lowe: When Sterlin was shooting the pilot, he told me if it gets picked up, I would come on, and Danis, as well and other directors, to do the rest of the show. It was a very pleasant feeling to come onto an actual set where people knew what we were doing, and everyone was extremely enthusiastic to be there. I think in that first season, we were kind of just finding our footing with the characters, the visual grammar of everything and what Sterlin wanted. The writing was so solid, everything was there. It was just a matter of plugging in the characters and tuning into the right wavelength and just making everything happen. Everything there within my first couple of episodes, with Uncle Brownie (Gary Farmer) and the other one with Deer Lady (Kaniehtiio Horn), those things went across very beautifully. We had no problems. So that first season, it was blessed.

Q: The common understanding is that TV is a writer's medium. As filmmakers, how do you navigate being true to yourselves as artists but also fit it into the showrunner's vision?

Lowe: Sterlin really catered everyone's story to what their strengths are. Like, Danis, I don't know that you deal with a lot of stuff with funerals of people, but the sensitivity and care and the emotions that you got out of everyone and how powerful that episode ("Mabel") was. Danis was just tailor-made to bring out those emotions. And Sterlin's like, "Well, with stoner and horror stuff, that's perfect for Blackhorse." He would always throw me the genre stuff, or something that was a bit more off-center. He knows everyone's strengths and what they can do best.

Goulet: It's amazing because we've all known each other since the early to mid-2000s. We've all watched so much of each other's work. It really feels like you're kind of returning to this family and then just being totally empowered creatively. Sterlin really trusts what people are going to do. I think the beautiful thing about the show is that it isn't afraid to take risks and to go off into different places. I think that really speaks to Sterlin's leadership. I also think he is a great matchmaker, because he really thinks about what scripts are going to go to what director. And then, once that choice is made, he's like, "Here you go, it's yours. What can I do to help?" It's really an incredible experience. I haven't worked in a lot of other TV, but from the stories I've heard from other directors, this is a real exception and not the rule.

Q: What are the moments that you take away from on set? What was memorable for you about your time working on these episodes this season?

Lowe: Tick checks. That's what I remember.

Goulet: Blackhorse has touched on it but there's so much humanity in the show. I think because of the politics of representation, there's this pressure to portray Indigenous people in a certain way. To be able to just be flawed humans, with all of the complexity of all of our relationships onscreen is so amazing, and I think the show just really centers on love at the core of it.

Obviously, for Episode 3, it got heavy at times because you can't touch on something that big without having to go to a place of just quiet and really honoring what happened and also trying to hold the space that the actors are trying to work in when they're trying to portray really difficult things. And I feel like that episode in particular, everyone mobilized. From Sterlin out there talking to background performers' parents in order to make sure all the kids were doing OK and that they were OK, to what elder Wotko (Long) shared about his own family's experience in boarding school before we shot in the mess hall.

There was a young man, Adam, who had intended to cut his long hair. Hair has a lot of meaning in a lot of our cultures and that was the first thing that got cut off when kids arrived at boarding school. He, with the support of his family, made the decision to cut his hair onscreen. That scene, when we went to shoot it, you could hear a pin drop in the room, it was so quiet. It was like everybody knew what it meant, and it was super emotional. I think I, among many others that participated in that, are still processing what a big thing that was.

Q: We can't talk about "Reservation Dogs" without discussing what the show has done for Native representation not just onscreen but also, as you've both mentioned, behind the camera. What do you want to take from your experience on this show as you pursue your own next projects?

Lowe: Residual checks, if the negotiations get done.

Goulet: It's funny that you say that, Blackhorse, because those of us who have been around for more than a minute know what it's like to slog the way in independent film. To watch Sterlin for so many years just make a bunch of features that all get into Sundance, but then it's (still) so hard to finance that next thing and you never do get a bigger budget. To finally get that opportunity to see what's possible when resources are given to Native-led storytelling is so incredible. You, as well, have worked in independent film for so long. It's like, yeah man, you do deserve a residual paycheck. We have paid some dues. And not just the regular dues that folks all over the place have paid. At the same time that we were trying to make our films in those early days, we're also trying to convince funders and anyone in the industry that would listen that our stories matter. That they have value. That we deserve to be the ones telling them. That if you trust us with our stories, we will totally blow it out of the water.

That's what the show has done. It's beyond proven that it can be done. All of the critical acclaim that the show has gotten is so well deserved, but it's also kind of like, we've been saying this for years. We've all known that the talent was there. We just needed the opportunity. I really hope that in the post-strike era, this just continues [and] we don't have to keep beating down the door at the same time that we're just trying to make our own work. It's been a long road.

Lowe: The big thing is the relationships with the crew. Working with Tazbah (Rose Chavez) and working with Migizi (Pensoneau). Working with the people at FX and the amazing cast and crew. There's so many friendships and moments that we've shared on set from lightning strikes to all these different places we'd go to shoot and other adventures.

It really is a family environment, and it's just nice to have this complete flip of other TV shows that are very corporate. You get your three performances, you get your stuff, you make your time, you get out to the next location (and) you keep on doing. Whereas with this, you meet the elders there. You get to know the land. You get to know the community. You figure out the prayers. You figure out the songs, (and) there's a welcoming. There's a very Native way of approaching these things, because these stories are living and breathing. They have lives of their own, so you really have to be very conscious and very careful with it.