There are a lot of reasons to love Dark Winds. Between spotlighting the often underrepresented Native American culture, the twisty crime-thriller plots, and the easy-to-root-for characters, it's no surprise that the neo-Western show received a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes for both its first and second seasons.
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While drama series tend to dip in popularity after their initial debut, Dark Winds only improved with its sophomore season, earning the coveted title of "universal acclaim" and leaving fans clamoring for more. The stage seems to be primed and ready for a third season. But will it actually happen?
Since Season 2 of Dark Winds performed incredibly well, AMC has officially renewed the series for a new season. Audiences can take comfort in the fact that director Chris Eyre is more than willing to keep Leaphorn and Chee's story going. In an interview with Variety, he expressed his excitement to continue the series, which is based on a set of mystery novels by American writer Tony Hillerman.
"Hopefully we'll get a third season, there's enough source material," he said prior to the official renewal. "I think Tony wrote 18 books. And his daughter, Anne Hillerman, is continuing the series, and she has about five books, I think. So there's 23 novels to cull from."
The first season of the show focused entirely on one book: the 1978 novel Listening Woman. The second follows People of Darkness. So if Dark Winds creators continue to follow that one-book per-season approach, the potential for additional seasons is huge. Pair that with the obvious resurgence Westerns have been experiencing on the big and small screen in recent years, and a third season seems like a no-brainer.
What is Dark Winds About?
Credit: AMC Studios, Fevre River Packet Co., and Wildwood Enterprises
For those who have yet to jump on the bandwagon, Dark Winds follows veteran tribal police lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) and undercover FBI agent Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordan) as they "are forced to challenge their own spiritual beliefs when they search for clues in a double murder case."
Set in the 1970s Southwest, the show tackles themes of identity, justice, and spirituality as the two law enforcement officers work together to solve a mysterious set of murders while also exploring the tension between modernity and tradition. The show has been praised for its accurate representation of Native American culture and history, as well as its stellar performances from both leads. The breathtaking New Mexico landscape where Dark Winds is filmed is just an added bonus.
"As actors, we all want to be part of shows and movies with multidimensional characters that are fully fleshed out," McClarnon said in a 2022 interview. "Hillerman did a lot of the heavy lifting for Joe Leaphorn. He wrote multiple books about those characters, so it's all there."
Dark Winds is not only written and directed by indigenous people, but the show also has a majority-indigenous crew. Writer Billy Luther told Variety that different indigenous perspectives helped to shape the show's accuracy and authenticity.
"We wrote what we knew," he said. "We didn't band together and say, 'Oh my God, we need to stand up and challenge every aspect of Native misrepresentation on TV.' When we were telling the story of Chee, we were writing about his connection to his identity and culture. With Leaphorn, it came naturally. Being multi-tribal was an experience close to me, so I identified with Chee and his journey of returning home.
"We weren't trying to be political about it, we just wanted to entertain. As for educating, that connection can happen naturally when you're engaging an audience."
While the effort is there, the show doesn't always hit the mark. The Navajo Times criticized the first season for mispronouncing certain words used in the Diné language to a point where the meaning was changed altogether. In response, Eyre hired a language consultant to ensure more accuracy for the second season.
"He really helped us to make sure that all the Navajo was uniform to a certain place and a certain time," he said. "We also had elders such as Betty (Ann Tsosie), and she made sure it was all great too."
Who are the Main Characters in Dark Winds Season 3?
Credit: AMC Studios, Fevre River Packet Co., and Wildwood Enterprises
Though the new season has been announced, we can't say for sure who might be appearing. But if the show follows its previous pattern, we'd expect to see the return of Leaphorn and Chee as well as other mainstays like tribal police sergeant Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten), Emma Leaphorn (Deanna Allison), and Sally Growing Thunder (Elva Guerra).
When speaking of the cast to Variety, Eyre only had good things to say: "Zahn and Kiowa and Jessica and Deanna Allison, they were this nucleus of the cast that's really humble and real and generous and loving, and you can feel it. There's a depth in Zahn and just an authenticity to him."
When Might Dark Winds Season 3 Air?
Credit: AMC Studios, Fevre River Packet Co., and Wildwood Enterprises
AMC has officially confirmed that we're looking at an early 2025 release date for the new season, which makes sense considering the current writer and actor strikes happening in Hollywood.
Until then, you can rewatch the first and second seasons on AMC and AMC+.
