Big Sky, ABC's melodramatic and controversial drama about serial kidnappers in remote parts of America, has just gotten a big update.
As reported by Deadline, the show's first season has been given an extra six episodes, bringing the episode count to a total of 16. The publication states that the show has been performing very well, and it has actually been ABC's highest-rated drama premiere since 2018.
The series follows private detective Cassie Dewell (Kylie Bunbury) and ex-cop Jenny Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick) who join forces to search for two sisters who have been kidnapped by a truck driver on a remote highway in Montana.
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Related: Big Sky star Ryan Phillippe breaks down premiere's mind-blowing twist
When we reviewed the first two episodes of Big Sky, we said that it is absolutely riddled with clichés, but there is also something about it that means that you never know what is going to happen in an episode, which we quite enjoyed.
However, the show has received a big backlash from Indigenous communities, with groups including the Global Indigenous Council, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana and more writing an open letter to ABC to criticise the show for being set in an area where Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls are disproportionally high (26% of missing people are said to be Indigenous, versus 7% of the population), without any Indigenous representation in its characters.
ABC bosses later responded to the criticism to state that they have taken it onboard and are meeting with Indigenous groups to work on representing them, although some of the groups who wrote the open letter have stated that they haven't had any of these meetings.
"After meaningful conversations with representatives of the Indigenous community, our eyes have been opened to the outsized number of Native American and Indigenous women who go missing and are murdered each year, a sad and shocking fact," an ABC statement read.
"We are grateful for this education and are working with Indigenous groups to help bring attention to this important issue."
In response, Tom Rodgers, president of the Global Indigenous Council, also released a statement, which read: "ABC Studios claimed it is working with Native Americans to fix the problem of ignoring the epidemic of violence against Native American women in its series, Big Sky.
"We have not heard from the honchos at Big Sky, ABC Studios, or parent company Disney. We have no idea what they are talking about, but we would be very interested to hear from ABC on its ideas for remedying the injustice done by its series, Big Sky.
"So we're interested in learning who ABC is working with, since it is curious that no purported Indigenous partners are named in its statement. In our culture, trust can only be earned, not promised."
Big Sky airs on ABC in the US. It does not have a UK home at the time of writing.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
