'Yellowstone' Actor Martin Sensmeier Sends Strong Message Ahead of Season 4 Premiere

By Allison Schonter

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As Yellowstone fans count down the hours to the Season 4 premiere on Sunday, actor Martin Sensmeier is issuing a strong message to Hollywood. The actor, who stars on the Paramount Network series as Martin and is from the Tlingit and Koyukon Athabaskan tribes of Alaska, marked the start of Native Peoples' Heritage Month by headlining a one-minute video essay titled "Real Power," in which he speaks about the representation of Native people in Hollywood.

Released by the Smithsonian Channel, which worked with IllumiNative, an initiative to raise awareness of Native American issues, on Monday, the video begins with Sensmeier reflecting on the "harmful" Native presentation he saw as a child. The actor recalled how "as a kid when I saw Native characters in movies, they opened up the movie with face paint on, they're angry at the white man, you're already villainizing us from the beginning — that stuff is harmful." Sensmeier went on to share his hopes for the future of Native representation, sharing, "as an actor, what I would like for Native kids to see, just somebody that represents something real, that's real power, because I want people to know who we are."

Sensmeier's message comes ahead of the Yellowstone Season 4 premiere on Sunday. Originally debuting back in 2018, the Paramount Network series prominently features Native American characters. The show centers on John Dutton, the sixth-generation owner of Dutton Ranch, the largest ranch in America. The ranch, however, is at conflict with those it borders, including the fictional Broken Rock tribe of Native Americans. While the series did at one point face some controversy over its casting choice for one character in particular, it has largely been praised for its strong Native American representation.

Speaking to Variety ahead of the series premiere in 2018, Crow Nation tribal chairman AJ Not Afraid, who allowed the show to be filmed on his reservation, said how Yellowstone portrays Native American characters "is a lot more realistic than other shows." Not Afraid added, "our perception had always been more stereotypical, but here the folks at the show came out and reckoned the terrain and the people, and they got a better taste of the native side." Meanwhile, Gil Birmingham, who stars as Chief Thomas Rainwater, told The Salt Lake Tribune in 2020, "it was such a beautiful opportunity to actually play a contemporary representation of a Native American, because you rarely ever see that. Especially one that has some kind of leverage and is a powerful player in the game." Birmingham added that the series "is exceptional "in the positive nature of its representation" and its "empowered representation of the Native world."

Yellowstone Season 4 premieres with a two-hour special event on Sunday, Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. ET on Paramount Network. Ahead of the premiere, Paramount Network is giving fans the chance to catch up with the Duttons with a "premiere week" marathon. The series' first three seasons can also be streamed on Peacock, which you can subscribe to by clicking here.

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