Ethan Hawke and Sterlin Harjo's new series is officially a go at FX

Ethan Hawke’s new series with Sterlin Harjo has officially been given the green light at FX. The collaboration was first announced to be in development back in February under the title The Sensitive Kind, though reporting from The Hollywood Reporter and Variety suggests they’ve scrapped the name. Though there are few plot details available, the pilot (filmed earlier this year) has been described as a “Tulsa noir about a guy (Hawke) who knows too much.”

Hawke stars in the new series and executive produces alongside Garrett Basch and Harjo, who wrote and directed the pilot. Previously announced cast members include Keith David, Siena East (The Sex Lives Of College Girls), Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tim Blake Nelson, Scott Shepherd, Tracy Letts, Kyle MacLachlan, Macon Blair (The Toxic Avenger), Killer Mike, Kaniehtiio Horne (Reservation Dogs), Cody Lightning (Echo), Michael Hitchcock, and Ryan Kiera Armstrong (Firestarter).

Harjo is coming off of a big year for Reservation Dogs, which concluded its critically-acclaimed run with an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series (and a nod for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for star D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai). Harjo, who was just named a 2024 MacArthur fellow, has an overall deal with FX. 

Hawke, meanwhile, has spent most of his career on the big screen rather than the small. Prior to teaming up with Harjo, his handful of TV credits include the Marvel series Moon Knight and the limited series The Good Lord Bird, which he also co-created and executive produced. In 2023, he guest starred in the Reservation Dogs episode “Elora’s Dad.” But Harjo and Hawke had connected before that over Hawke’s graphic novel Indeh: A Story Of The Apache Wars, an adaptation of which is “in development,” Harjo said at a screening of Hawke’s film Wildcat in Tulsa earlier this year. 

At the screening, Harjo described their partnership as a “really great collaborative relationship where like now we’re working and he’s the lead in this show that I’m directing.” “Ethan is a community guy,” Harjo told the crowd (via Tulsa World) at the event organized by the Tulsa Film Collective, of which the showrunner is a co-founder. “I am a community guy. I love bringing people together. I love making art here. I love sharing art here, and I love being able to work with Ethan right now in Tulsa. It’s been a really beautiful experience.”