The film centers the marriage between Ernest and Mollie Burkhart (Lily Gladstone), with extensive consultation from the Osage Nation on rituals, language, and customs to ensure accuracy. Scorsese and Eric Roth rewrote the script after Osage input to shift focus away from the FBI investigation and Tom White toward the Osage perspective and suffering, deliberately avoiding a white savior structure that had been considered earlier. Casting prioritized Osage and Indigenous actors for Osage roles through open calls, placing Gladstone in the historical Mollie role without altering any pre-existing fictional character or introducing source-material race or gender swaps.

The core premise stays a factual historical crime drama driven by greed, with themes of exploitation drawn directly from documented events rather than modern activist lectures or identity politics. This measured approach to perspective and authenticity produces only moderate ideological weight, reflected in the final score.