Bradley said that when they were working on the episode all the way back in April 2020, Disney Diversity told them they were going to call the Smithsonian, which houses the National Museum of the American Indian, to get their assistance and involvement. She explained:
“So from day one, we were talking to [native] people. We brought them in for everything from design, story, costuming, music. It was really a collaborative effort and we were so lucky to get all the help. It was really kind of amazing and beautiful and I’m very, very proud that we’re able to pull that episode off.”
Andrews said the questions they asked were, “What if colonization didn’t happen? What if the Europeans didn’t come here?” He said that was a guiding force for him to start. He explained, “[W]hen talking with the consultants and getting into their belief system and the rest, we were able to totally find an ‘in’ that was solid and worked.”
The big focus here was making sure this was as accurate as it could be for the series. The consultants were involved in all of it, from the visual development team to the art team. These consultants, Andrews said, “Wrote us a letter saying that they felt for the first time that their people were honestly being represented in media. And that was huge for us to hear.”
Even cooler? They are holding a screening for the First Nations people and “the various Mohawk tribes that were all around the area, like Montreal and [the] east coast. They’re coming togther and we’re showing it to them before this airs.”
