The two decades since the publication of Regional Perspectives on the Olmec have seen a great expansion of basic archaeological research in the “Olmec heartland” region of Mexico's southern Gulf lowlands as well as important new work on Formative period interregional interaction and its effects on local economies and polities. Olmec research, however, has not achieved as prominent a place as it merits in comparative research on the evolution of social complexity. In this essay I review this work and make some suggestions for future research directions.