Night of the Living Rez takes place on the Penobscot Indian Island Reservation in Maine, home of the Penobscot Nation tribe of Native Americans, also known as the Panawahpskek Nation. Panawahpskek is the name for the Penobscot in Abenaki, the language used by these and other Indigenous Algonquin peoples in Maine and Quebec. The island reservation is 22 square miles, about a third of which is land, with the rest made up by the Penobscot River. The population was 627 people as of the 2020 census.

The Penobscot are believed to have lived in the area now made up of Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia for 11,000 years before the arrival of explorers and colonizers. By the late 18th century, Europeans were occupying these territories, embroiling the Indigenous populations in conflicts and introducing alcohol and disease. By 1820, when Maine became a state, the Penobscot were relegated to reservations, including the Indian Island Reservation. The Penobscot, Maliseet, Micmac and ...