Thanks to the monumental success of the hugely popular Taylor Sheridan and his ever-growing Yellowstone franchise, audiences are now constantly on the lookout for similar shows to fill that particular neo-Western void. Well, we have exactly what you’re looking for, as the latest season of the psychological thriller Dark Winds has now debuted to stellar reviews and a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes. The first episode of Dark Winds Season 4, “Kǫ’Tsiitáá’ Álnééh (Baptism by Fire),” premiered on AMC and AMC+ over the weekend (it’s already taken the #1 spot on the streamer), with reviews quickly falling in love with the return to this tale of three Navajo Tribal Police officers and the dark crimes that befall them and landing Dark Winds Season 4 a perfect score of 100% on the review aggregator site. CBR awarded the latest effort a near-perfect 9/10 saying…
[Dark Winds] takes the group of leads to Los Angeles, California for the first time, temporarily leaving the Navajo reservation’s desert for a city-bound mystery that is all-consuming and unwavering.
Collider, meanwhile, hailed Dark Winds Season 4 as the “most intense” so far. And, for anyone already familiar with the thrills inherent in the show (the first three seasons are available to stream on Netflix, by the way), that’s saying something.
Make no mistake, Season 4 is the most intense that Dark Winds has ever been, with high personal and professional stakes that could change the reservation forever.

‘Dark Winds’ Continues to Deliver Genre-Bending Neo-Western Thrills

Joe shines a flashlight in Dark WindsAMC

Continuing the praise, ScreenRant praised Dark Winds’ continued success in combining “Navajo culture mixed with dark supernatural elements.”
Most of the beloved formula has carried over from the ending of Dark Winds season 3, from the well-established characters to the brilliant way it examines how white and Navajo America interact. Dark Winds season 4 also adds enough to the formula to make for a refreshing and great new installment.
Finally, RogertEbert.com declared Dark Winds as nothing less than a defining series of such high quality that it will withstand the “test of time.”
As the show’s writers continue to find meaningful cases that push its characters close to the brink, this series will continue to be a defining touchstone that withstands the test of time.
Created by Graham Roland and based on the “Leaphorn & Chee” novel series by Tony Hillerman, Dark Winds stars Zahn McClarnon as Joe Leaphorn and Kiowa Gordon as Jim Chee alongside Jessica Matten, Deanna Allison, Rainn Wilson, Elva Guerra, Jeremiah Bitsui, Eugene Brave Rock, and Noah Emmerich. You can check out the official synopsis for the genre-bending crime thriller series below…

“Set in 1971 on a remote outpost of the Navajo Nation near Monument Valley, Dark Winds follows Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn of the Tribal Police as he is besieged by a series of seemingly unrelated crimes. The closer he digs to the truth, the more he exposes the wounds of his past. He is joined on this journey by his new deputy, Jim Chee. Chee, too, has old scores to settle from his youth on the reservation. Together, the two men battle the forces of evil, each other and their own personal demons on the path to salvation.”

Release Date

June 12, 2022

Network

AMC

Showrunner

John Wirth, Vince Calandra

Jessica Matten

Bernadette Manuelito

Deanna Allison

Emma Leaphorn