Lovecraft Country showrunner addresses backlash surrounding Yahima

Lovecraft Country has been praised for its deft handling of racial issues, but the treatment of Indigenous character Yahima didn’t sit right.

Lovecraft Country is rapidly becoming one of HBO’s biggest new series, and it’s easy to understand why. The show mixes terrors drawn from the pages of H.P. Lovecraft’s books with the horrors of racism in Jim Crow America, tackling everything from sundown towns to the horrific murder of Emmett Till. Given the recent upheaval surrounding race in the United States, Lovecraft Country proves itself timely, because much of this racism still exists, even if it sometimes manifests differently.

Showrunner Misha Green clearly isn’t afraid to tackle important topics, and overall the show has been met with huge praise. Green did, however, receive backlash for her handling of an Indigenous character during the series’ fourth episode. In “A History of Violence,” a Two-Spirit, Indigenous character named Yahima is introduced. This type of onscreen representation is, unfortunately, a rarity, so fans weren’t happy when Yahima’s character was murdered by Montrose at the end of the same episode, not long after helping Tic and his companions.

After the episode aired, viewers were quick to point out how poorly the show handled Yahima’s character, and the fact that Montrose’s actions are hardly addressed afterward certainly didn’t help matters. During a recent Twitter Q&A, one fan even asked Green for an explanation for the way Yahima was portrayed.

"I wanted to show the uncomfortable truth that oppressed folks can also be oppressors. But I didn’t examine or unpack the moment/portrayal of Yahima as thoroughly as I should have. It’s a story point worth making, but I failed in the way I chose to make it."

Some fans have accepted Green’s post as taking accountability for the poor representation of the Indigenous, Two-Spirit character, but others have expressed that more needs to be done to rectify the situation. One even offered up the idea of returning to Yahima’s character in some way, which could give fans some sort of closure.

Whether that will happen remains to be seen — the show still hasn’t been confirmed for another season just yet — but Green has at least addressed the problem viewers have been highlighting for weeks. With any luck, this will at least serve as a lesson for writers and showrunners moving forward, one that underscores the need to do better.

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