Jim Jarmusch explicitly sought a complicated human portrayal of Nobody to avoid savage or noble savage clichés, resulting in nuanced tribal distinctions and subtle depictions of frontier violence against Natives, yet these serve the film's poetic meditation on death and rebirth rather than driving identity-based conflict. Casting pairs Johnny Depp as the white protagonist with Gary Farmer as Nobody in an original story fitting the 19th-century Western setting, with no established character alterations or modern DEI mandates.

Reception highlights its acid Western style and atmospheric Neil Young score without notable controversies or accusations of preachiness; critics praise the researched Native elements as organic to revisionist genre traditions. The light thematic overlap with critiques of settler expansion remains incidental and does not elevate to activist framing.