Entertainment- Warning: There are spoilers ahead for the latest episode of "Yellowstone" prequel, "1923."
- Aminah Nieves spoke to Insider about the amount of violence carried out against her character.
Since its premiere, "1923" has put the plight of Native American characters front and center, with the first episode introducing viewers to Teonna Rainwater (Aminah Nieves), a teenage girl from the "Yellowstone" universe's fictional Broken Rock Reservation.
Her storyline, in contrast to that of the Duttons, has been unrelentingly bleak from the beginning, but speaking to Insider, Nieves said that depicting the unspeakable horrors that real Indigenous American people went through is "necessary" even if it is hard to watch.
In the first handful of episodes, audiences followed Teonna during her time trapped in a church-run boarding school for Indigenous American youth. There, she experienced horrific physical, emotional, and sexual abuse by those in charge of her care, namely Sister Mary (Jennifer Ehle), Sister Alice (Kerry O'Malley), and Father Renaud (Sebastian Roché).
After exacting revenge on the nuns in satisfying style — she bludgeoned one to death with a Bible before branding her face with a heated ruler, both weapons that had been used against her literally or figuratively — Teonna fled the school in the dead of night.
Her troubles didn't end there as she trekked through the Dakota wilderness looking for a hideout, all while keeping an eye out for wolves and priests from the boarding school who were hot on her heels.
While Teonna eventually found an ally in Hank (Michael Greyeyes), another Indigenous character who has gone through the process of cultural assimilation, hence his Westernized name, the latest episodes have dealt devastating blow after devastating blow for Teonna.
First, her grandmother, Issaxche (Amelia Rico), was callously killed by a police officer who came knocking at her cabin with a warrant for Teonna's arrest. Her cousin Baapuxti (Leenah Robinson) suffered a similar fate after Renaud was unable to get an answer out of her about where Teonna had gone. Now, as viewers saw on Sunday night's installment, Hank has joined the list of deceased Native American characters on the show after he was shot in the back while trying to rescue Teonna.
This latest heartbreak for Teonna, who has already been through so much already, has sparked discussions on Twitter and Reddit among fans who have begun to question whether Teonna's suffering is verging on gratuitous, especially given that showrunner Taylor Sheridan has been criticized in the past for missing the mark when it comes to Native American representation.
"I think it's necessary because this hasn't been told as truthfully and on this wide of a scale before," Nieves told Insider when asked about the staggering amount of violent acts carried out against her character.
The actor, who is of Indigenous descent herself, continued: "Truly, I think that we have to speak up and we have to share these stories no matter how hard they are."
Nieves added that as the show presumably "has more of a white demographic," it's even more important that they don't "shy away from" graphically violent or emotionally troubling scenes so that viewers learn about the injustices Indigenous people suffered.
According to the Paramount Network's own streaming data published in 2019, "Yellowstone" is most popular in cities throughout the Midwest and the South, with Phoenix, Arizona, Dallas, Texas, and Denver, Colorado, being where the majority of viewers tune in from. While no such data exists for "1923," it is presumed many watching the prequel series are fans of the flagship.
"I think so many of us are tired of our truth not being heard and our truth being attempted to be buried," Nieves said. "But I think time is up for real for that one."
"To see our community thriving and to see more people speak up, to see more people become conscious and aware of what is happening on these lands that people occupy and that we stand on today is extremely important."
"This isn't fake for our people," she added, explaining that her family has struggled to watch some of her scenes.
"I think it's very hard for them, but they're so incredibly proud and supportive of me," she said. "Even my grandfather called me and he was like, 'I'm so proud of you, my superstar. Things that Teonna did to the nuns is what I did too.'"
"That wrecked me, I was crying," Nieves said.
"1923" airs Sundays on Paramount+.