Here’s your first look at Sierra Teller Ornelas’ groundbreaking project…
Peacock has released the first trailer at Rutherford Falls, an upcoming original comedy series from the 40-year-old Navajo and Mexican American showrunner, screenwriter, filmmaker and weaver from Tucson, Arizona and her co-creators Michael Schur and Ed Helms.
Peacock will premiere the series on Thursday, April 22.
The comedy centers around two lifelong best friends, Nathan Rutherford, played by Helms, and Reagan Wells (Jana Schmieding), who find themselves at a crossroads – quite literally – when their sleepy town gets an unexpected wakeup call. Michael Greyeyes, Jesse Leigh and Dustin Milligan also star.
The series represents a breakthrough in Native representation in comedy television both in front of and behind the camera with Schmieding (Cheyenne River Lakota Sioux) and Greyeyes (Nêhiyaw from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation), along with five Native writers staffing, comprising one of the largest Indigenous writer’s rooms on television.
The writers include Schmieding, Ornelas (Navajo), Bobby Wilson (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota), Tai Leclaire (Kanien’kehá:ka [Mohawk Nation]/Mi’kmaq), and Tazbah Chavez (Nüümü [Bishop Paiute Tribe], Diné [Navajo], San Carlos Apache).
Rutherford Falls is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.