
Native American actress Lily Gladstone has been cast in a key role.
WGN America — the same cable network that will launch the second season of the acclaimed drama Underground March 8 — has ordered a pilot for Scalped, a proposed weekly series based on the Vertigo Comics title written by Jason Aaron and illustrated by R.M. Guéra. And according to Variety, the showbiz bible, WGN “is looking to find a cast predominately made up of Native American actors” for this tryout episode.
Already, the producers have cast Lily Gladstone, an actress raised on the Blackfeet Reservation in Northwestern Montana, in the key role of Carol Red Crow, the estranged daughter of Chief Lincoln Red Crow, a Native American tribal leader who may be moonlighting as a ruthless crime lord. Gladstone earned rave reviews last year for her breakout performance in the indie feature film Certain Women and is a nominee for an Independent Spirit Award.
What’s it all about? According to Deadline.com: “A modern-day crime story set in the world of a Native American reservation, Scalped explores power, loyalty and spirituality in a community led by the ambitious Chief Lincoln Red Crow as he reckons with Dashiell Bad Horse, who has returned home after years away from the reservation.” The twist: Bad Horse is an undercover FBI agent, assigned to find evidence linking Red Crow to the murder of two other FBI agents decades ago.