“We lost a grandmother there at Wounded Knee,” he says. “People who were infants during Wounded Knee were still alive when we were children. I got to sit at the kitchen table with them, look into their eyes, and know that those eyes witnessed that.”
The Legacy of ‘Yellowstone’
![](https://www.wideopencountry.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/01/840-x-560-2-5.png)
Brings Plenty became a cultural consultant on “Yellowstone” in Season 5, making his work as a liaison between production and tribal leaders official. He has since consulted on a raft of Sheridan-verse titles, including “1883” and “1923” — the latter of which brought him to a panel on Native representation for the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in 2023.
“I represent Indian Country, but I absolutely cannot speak on behalf of a tribe that I’m not enrolled in,” he says. On “1923,” he went to the Crow Agency and was connected with Birdie Real Bird, a Native Crow speaker who taught the language to the cast.
That accuracy makes a difference for a network of cultures so often represented as monolithic. Brings Plenty credits Sheridan for sticking to his guns on the details, because it’s had a ripple effect in the industry.
“It’s all about authenticity, and Taylor knows that. If it’s not authentic, he wants nothing to do with it. I have a great deal of respect for him for setting that example so the rest of Hollywood will begin to understand.”
“Kevin Costner did the same thing with ‘Dances with Wolves,’” he adds. “They both laid the groundwork and are showing society that it does work. Look at the popularity of ‘Yellowstone.’ It’s the No. 1 show on cable in the world. I’m honored and humbled to be a small part of that.”
Now that “Yellowstone” is coming to an end, Brings Plenty hopes to continue popping up in Sheridan’s projects — such as his recent cameo in “Lawmen: Bass Reeves.”
“I would love to remain in the Sheridan realm because everything is brilliantly written, and factual in a lot of cases.” And he won’t soon give up on his “brotherhood” with Gil Birmingham, who’s been instrumental in opening doors for Native talent. “It would be wonderful to work with him in another project down the road, once ‘Yellowstone’ comes to an end.”
As for his character, Mo? Chief Rainwater’s right-hand man has a lot of untold backstory, he says. But he hasn’t put much thought into how Mo’s story might wrap up for the simple fact that he trusts Sheridan implicitly.
“Whatever ending he comes up with, it’s going to be the right one. I’m being sincere when I say that Taylor is amazing. He knows best when it comes to the life of every character in the story,” he says, adding with a laugh, “Now, I think it would be awesome if there was a spinoff for Rainwater and Mo.”
Life After ‘Yellowstone’
Even with the upcoming “2024” sequel series, the end of “Yellowstone” feels like the end of an era. For Mo Brings Plenty, the last five years ushered in a fresh new take on the Western genre and on Native representation in Hollywood broadly.
He was the first American Indian to present an award at the Golden Globes — which he did alongside his “Yellowstone” and “Dead Man’s Hand” co-star Cole Hauser. A year later, Lily Gladstone became the first American Indian to win Best Actress at the 2024 Globes for her role in Martin Scorsese’s Osage tragedy “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
“My hope is that it just continues to grow and you’ll see us in more contemporary projects, playing those doctors, those lawyers, being those detectives,” he says. “I smile because I’m starting to see a big shift in society’s desire to understand our culture a little bit better from the true representatives of our culture.”
He adds, “When cultural diversity is living, racism begins to die.”
Brings Plenty is ramping up his efforts to get more Native talent behind the scenes, too. One of his greatest career aspirations is shepherding more Native American casting directors into the business. That way, when Western films hold reservation-wide casting calls, “that space is occupied by the true representation of that tribe.”
He can’t say too much about his upcoming project “Buffalo Daze,” about legendary mixed-blood “Indian cowboy” Jim Grinder, but he has high praise for its producer, Georgina Lightning. She’s a Native producer-actor-director from Canada. Lightning’s 2008 directorial debut “Older Than America” focused on abuse at Catholic boarding schools in Indian Country. It starred Tantoo Cardinal, Bradley Cooper and Adam Beach.
He’s also gathering a cross-tribe coalition to consult on film and TV productions. The aim is to tap tribal governance, Native speakers and elders for more-accurate representation across the industry. There’s strength in numbers, he says:
“Indian Country needs to unite. The American people in general need to unite. We have to strip ourselves of these labels and learn how to stand side by side, because what’s going to make this country great is the American people. What we have in common far outweighs the few pathetic differences we may have.”
Perhaps there was something to Mo Brings Plenty’s dream of being a teacher after all.