''Tribal'' is a Canadian television crime drama series, which premiered February 20, 2020 on APTN. The series stars Jessica Matten as Sam Woodburn, the newly appointed chief of an indigenous police force in the Nêhiyawak First Nation in

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, and

Brian Markinson Brian Markinson (born ) is an American actor who has appeared in a wide variety of films and television shows. Some of Markinson's best known roles include a U.S. Attorney General in ''Shooter'', an unscrupulous industrialist in ''Godzilla'', ...

as Chuck “Buke” Bukansky, a racist and sexist white cop from

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

whom she is paired with to solve crimes.Sabrina Furminger
"Vancouver actor tackles ugly role in APTN police procedural Tribal"
''Vancouver Courier'', February 12, 2020. The cast also includes

Adam MacDonald William Adam MacDonald (born April 26, 1977) is a Canadian actor, writer, and director. He is known for portraying Being Erica#Characters, Josh MacIntosh on the CBC Television, CBC show ''Being Erica'', Peter McGregor on ''Wild Roses (TV series) ...

, Ryan Northcott, Julian Black Antelope, Garry Chalk, Justin Rain, Michelle Thrush, Glen Gould,

John Cassini John Cassini (born in Toronto) is a Canadian actor. Career Cassini appeared in the 1995 Brad Pitt film '' Seven''. He starred in the 2005 film '' Cool Money''. Cassini starred as Ronnie Delmarco on the CBC series ''Intelligence'', which was ca ...

, Joel Oulette, Marika Sila, and Georgina Lightning. The first season consists of eight episodes directed by Ron E. Scott. In advance of the series premiere, APTN announced that the show will have a second season. The second season of ten episodes premiered on October 21, 2021 and was directed by Ron E. Scott and Asaf Benny. The series was filmed in

Premise

Following her predecessor's suspension due to allegations of corruption, Officer Sam Woodburn is appointed as the new interim Chief of the Justice Department's newly integrated Tribal Police Force. She is forced to partner up with Detective Chuck 'Buke' Bukansky who has a reputation for racism. Despite their conflicting views together they investigate crimes that involve or have direct links to the First Nations.

Cast

* Jessica Matten as Chief Samantha "Sam" Woodburn *

as Detective Chuck “Buke” Bukansky *

as Detective Lucas Fielding * Ryan Northcott as Detective Mitch Wheeler * Julian Black Antelope as Daniel Crowchild * Garry Chalk as Constance "Connie" Edwin Harris * Sarah-Jane Redmond as Denise Bukansky * Anita Brown as Alana Thompson * Justin Rain as Ryan Streit-(Season 1) * Jaren Brandt Bartlett as Nate Mercredi-(Season 1) * Michelle Thrush as Jackie Woodburn-(Season 1) * Glen Gould as Gordon Thundercloud-(Season 1) *

as Jimmy Ganz-(Season 1-Season 2) * Ana Rice as Officer Tara Whitetail-(Season 1) * Bernard Starlight as Phil Thundercloud-(Season 1-Season 2) * Stephen Huszar as Marcus Watkins-(Season 2) * Marci T. House as Victoria Mann-(Season 2) Other Major Characters * Wesley French as Dallas Bullhead (Season 2) * Teneil Whiskeyjack as Alice Wajunta (Season 2) *

Brendan Meyer Brendan Meyer (born October 2, 1994) is a Canadian actor. Career He is best known for his role as Adam Young in '' Mr. Young'' and Nelson Ort on the television show '' Dinosapien''. In 2016, he appeared in the Netflix Netflix is an Ameri ...

as Hanson Bukansky (Season 2) * Savonna Spracklin as Casey Woodburn (Season 2) * Lincoln McGowan as Addison Sunridge (Season 2)

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2020)

Season 2 (2021)

Reception

In his year-end review of television in 2020, critic John Doyle of ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' singled out both Markinson and Matten as having given two of the year's best performances in Canadian television. John Doyle, "Great Canadian TV performances of 2020". ''

'', December 15, 2020.

References

External links

* 2020 Canadian television series debuts 2020s Canadian crime drama television series Aboriginal Peoples Television Network original programming Television shows filmed in Calgary First Nations television series {{Canada-drama-tv-prog-stub