It’s no secret that we here at Collider love Dark Winds. AMC’s resident neo-Western crime drama, executive produced by George R.R. Martin and the late Robert Redford, has been a favorite for years, largely due to the powerhouse performance from Zahn McClarnon and each season’s clever mysteries. The program follows a small tribal police unit in 1970s Navajoland that includes McClarnon’s Joe Leaphorn, Kiowa Gordon’s Jim Chee, and Jessica Matten’s Bernadette Manuelito, tackling a new case each year — and, from what we’ve seen, Season 4 may just be its most intense yet. (It was also just renewed for Season 5.) Last June, we were invited to visit the New Mexico set shortly after the third season concluded, and the fourth was well into production. While there, we spoke with members of both the cast and crew, who revealed some of what is to come, while also uncovering some interesting tidbits about what goes into the making of a series like this.
‘Dark Winds’ Has Carved Its Own Slice of Filmmaking Paradise in New Mexico

Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) and Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) on ‘Dark Winds’ Season 4Image via AMC

Accompanied by an AMC representative, we arrived at Camel Rock Studios around 9 o’clock on a Wednesday morning, met soon after by Dark Winds executive producer Tina Elmo. The impressive studio, located north of Santa Fe just off U.S. Highway 84, was once a casino operated by the local Tesuque Pueblo. While the casino itself has since moved up the road, filmmaker and executive producer Chris Eyre — who is directing three of this season’s eight episodes — convinced the tribe to repurpose the original building into a film studio, which now hosts the entire Dark Winds production. “I said, you should turn it into a sound stage,” Eyre recalled telling the casino’s general manager, who took the filmmaker’s advice when the Tom Hanks flick News of the World needed a location for a water tower they were building at the time. As it turned out, this was the perfect spot. “That was kind of the beginning, and we moved in here after that.” While the studio interiors are simply beautiful, adorned with images reflective of Pueblo history, “the real asset,” as Eyre puts it, is the 17,000 acre backlot that extends into the hill country just behind the complex. “If you look at studios in Albuquerque or anywhere else, they don’t have this,” the producer explained, gesturing to the grand vistas surrounding the studio. “So, basically we shoot the interiors, and then we do what we’re doing now, [we] drive onto the backlot where we do these builds.” When watching Dark Winds, it’s easy to feel a sense of place as Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito wander around the Navajo Nation. It’s large and expansive, and considering that the real-life Navajoland spans upwards of 17 million acres (the largest reservation in the country), one’s imagination can effortlessly fill in the gaps. And yet, when driving through the Native lands that lie just beyond Camel Rock Studios, those illusions quickly fade. We first came upon an unrecognizable structure (but one that audiences will soon become intimately familiar with), a diner that had been constructed by the crew in a record two weeks for the upcoming season. But as we passed the hill, we were soon met with a familiar locale that made the whole production feel real: the Leaphorn house.

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‘Dark Winds’ Showrunner Teases How Season 4 Will Bring in “Another Aspect of Navajo Culture”

The series has already been renewed for Season 4.

With permission from the production’s cultural preservationist, Dark Winds builds in various spots along the land. Each new build is cleverly secluded from the other as to avoid accidental continuity errors. The expansive backlot is a breath of fresh air in an industry so often littered with entire worlds constructed digitally. It’s also deeply historical. Since there were once Native villages throughout these hills, the production is quite respectful of where they are (and aren’t) allowed to build. As Eyre notes, it’s better than anything you’d find in Hollywood. We concur. Stepping on Leaphorn’s porch and looking out at the cloudy New Mexican horizon, one would never know that a studio lies below the ridge at the edge of the character’s on-screen property line. “Sometimes we have to erase the highway,” Eyre admitted as we looked out over the sprawling landscape. “But other than that, you get the western sunset there, and when the clouds aren’t there — which is most of the time, because we get 300 days of sunshine a year here — you get the Valles Caldera.” Talk about the perfect workplace.
‘Dark Winds’ Has Always Been About Highlighting Native American Culture — Visually and Otherwise

Zahn McClarnon’s Joe Leaphorn and Jessica Matten as Bernadette Manuelito in Dark Winds Season 4Image via AMC+

Stunned silent by the New Mexican grandeur, we drove back down to Season 4’s new diner set. Entering the structure, the type of greasy spoon where you could easily scrounge up a good meal (and for cheap with those ’70s menu prices), a splatter of blood on the floor hinted at something more sinister. “Zahn directed this season, so he was the first person to shoot in there,” Eyre revealed, teasing an explosive sequence that will take place early in the season. We can’t say much about that, but we can say that it will be one of the highlights of Season 4, which Eyre says is simply “awesome.” Even more serendipitous is that at one point during production, the neon “Diner” sign above the building malfunctioned. As a result, the “r” went dim so that the neon spelled out “Dine” instead. Anyone who knows anything about Dark Winds or the Navajo people knows that the Navajo refer to themselves as the Diné. As the show has become increasingly culturally conscious, it’s hard to see the malfunction as anything but a sign that the AMC series is on the right path. After spending some time in the impressive diner location (and wishing we could grab a burger and fries for 99 cents), EP Tina Elmo took us on the road again as we visited another section of the Camel Rock property. Along the way, we spoke of the trials and tribulations of getting Dark Winds made in the first place. “The whole goal was to hire and bring on Native filmmakers, artists, [and] writers to reclaim the Tony Hillerman stories as their own,” she explained, highlighting showrunner John Wirth as a driving force behind that ideal. With cultural consultants who, beginning with this upcoming season, are active from the early stages of ideation in the writers’ room, Dark Winds continues to fight for the Navajo people it represents. As such, Hillerman’s material is used respectfully as a springboard to tell these distinctly Native stories. One of the most impressive ways this was highlighted was through the constructed Hogan village on Camel Rock’s vast backlot. “You can see that this looks like Monument Valley,” Elmo noted, and she was right. In some ways, it was like stepping onto the set of The Searchers or some other John Ford Western, but in another sense, it was as if we had entered the Twilight Zone and found ourselves hurtled back in time to when the West was scarcely populated as it is today. As we entered the Hogan village, I half-expected a handful of Navajo ancestors to walk out to greet us. And yet, just down the road lies other on-screen locations like “Joe’s Gas and Oil” and, most importantly, Bernadette’s trailer home — a set littered with period-accurate furnishings, Bern’s favorite Elvis photograph, and a hidden copy of Hillerman’s very first Leaphorn & Chee tale, The Blessing Way, tucked beneath several Louis L’Amour novels. Had we had the opportunity, I would’ve camped out there for a few hours.
Camel Rock Studios Has Everything That ‘Dark Winds’ Needs To Run Smoothly Each Season

Returning to Camel Rock Studios, we had the pleasure of meeting with several department heads hard at work behind-the-scenes to bring the period aesthetics to life. We began with costume designer Lahly Poore, who explained that this season in particular — which is split between the Navajo Nation and ’70s Los Angeles — has been a delightful challenge. In general, the costuming department is quite impressive. If you didn’t know your way around, it would be easy to get lost in the mountain of retro clothing and accessories. “We build a lot for principles because we’re action,” Poore adds. “So, we have to have multiples … because we’re constantly shooting people.” The same goes for props as well, which are handled masterfully by Carma Harvey, who sees finding retro appliances, artwork, and other props as a delightful challenge. From there, we had the pleasure of being guided through the interiors by production designer Guy Barnes, who had been pondering retirement before joining Dark Winds. While seeing the exterior of the Leaphorn home was quite breathtaking, walking into the interiors felt like a dream. Due to the combined efforts of the aforementioned department heads and their staff, the Leaphorn house doesn’t just feel lived in, but like one could move in at a moment’s notice. Well, save for the missing roof. While Barnes didn’t get to build the Leaphorn home or the tribal police station himself, he has since made them his own. “Season 1’s are tough,” Barnes explained, having only joined up in the show’s sophomore season. “Season 2 is kind of nice because you can flesh out things like this a little more. You know what works, and you know what doesn’t.” Now that Dark Winds is in its fourth year, the whole thing is a well-oiled machine that chugs along full-speed ahead. As a fan, seeing the familiar locations — which also included the Rez clinic, the insides of a lived-in hogan, and other recurring builds — was already exciting, but it was far more thrilling to lay eyes on one of the new Season 4 sets: a doomsday-like bunker that will factor heavily into the new story arc. “This one we did in about two weeks,” Barnes noted, as if a simple matter of fact. What was so marvelous about this build, in particular, was how expansive it was. The set featured corridors that led to bedrooms, living quarters, and more. From LA motels and apartment sets for Season 4 newcomers (not to mention the diner set and all the other exteriors), Barnes and his crew have done a spectacular job at making us believe that Leaphorn, Chee, and the gang truly exist in the 1970s space. The craftsmanship, the pure attention to detail, is almost overwhelming, and you can tell that, even when pressed for time, he is passionate about making sure everything is done right according to his own personal standards. “I always liked Hillerman books; I really liked all the people that were going to be involved,” he added. “This is the only show we do now, so it keeps us busy.”
‘Dark Winds’ Prides Itself on Its Cultural Accuracy and the Native American Artists Involved

Sgt. Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) and Sgt. Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten) leaning against a truck on ‘Dark Winds’ Season 4Image via AMC

Before we wrapped up at Camel Rock, we were treated to the presence of Kiowa Gordon and Jessica Matten. Neither star was slated to film the day we visited the set, but they had graciously taken the time to come and speak with us on their day off anyway. It’s one thing to speak to an actor over Zoom, as I had with each of them during Season 3, but it’s another to sit down and talk face-to-face. There’s no denying that the pair is dynamic on the screen, but the two of them are just as animated and passionate (not to mention considerate) in person. “One thing I love about Dark Winds is that added dynamic of, yes, we’re a cop show, but because we have the Navajo traditions and the mythology behind that, we do have this beautiful element of the otherworldly,” Matten explained. It’s clear that her own personal experience with traditional spirituality has given her a foundation through which she explores Dark Winds, and we’ve spoken about it as much previously. Adding to that, Gordon once again reinforced the show’s clear commitment to authenticity, using discretion to decide what elements of the Navajo culture they can show on camera and what they cannot. “Some of the stuff is really taboo for Navajos to talk about, so it’s kind of interesting to get into these spaces that we really aren’t allowed to show too much of,” he noted, recounting his experience going to yuwipi ceremony. “We have to imply a lot.” Although Gordon considers himself something of a skeptic, he believes that it’s important to have something real and tangible to pull from. “I’ve been on many indigenous TV shows before,” Matten adds, “but the one difference I will say is [that] I have not been on an indigenous show where we go there, with the showing and the revealing [of] really sacred mythology and parts that are somewhat taboo to speak about. And still being able to respect the culture and get approval from the Nation and everything.” To Matten’s credit, compared to nearly every Native American-centric show that this author has seen, she’s absolutely right. For decades in the film industry, Native culture and customs were either so diluted that there was nothing specific to the respective tribe, or it was heavily mythologized with little connection to reality. From the onset, Dark Winds aimed to be different. “We hold each other accountable,” explained series writer Erica Tremblay, the brilliant mind who also directed Season 3’s Twin Peaks-esque “Ábidoo’niidę́ę́ (What We Had Been Told).” I had the chance to speak with Tremblay briefly before Gordon and Matten arrived, and she sang the same high praises about the show’s lofty goals toward authenticity. “That attention to culture and community has been such a draw for me to work on the show,” she revealed. Due to Navajo consultants like Manny and Jennifer Wheeler (who were referenced by several members of the cast and crew but were sadly not on set that day), it’s that cultural realism that has become a successful part of the show’s branding. Of course, that cultural authenticity extends not just to what we see on the screen, but many of the creative voices off-screen as well. From the all-Native writers’ room to the stars and producers to even stunt coordinator Danny Edmo — who went from Montana’s Blackfeet Indian Reservation to the rodeo circuit before becoming an extra on the show, which led to his current role — Dark Winds has become a creative melting pot for Native American artists. It’s a triumph that it’s likely AMC didn’t see coming.
‘Dark Winds’ Season 4 Heads to Los Angeles, Which Looks a Lot Like Albuquerque

Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) wanders around Los Angeles in ‘Dark Winds’ Season 4Image via AMC

After saying our goodbyes to Chee and Manuelito, we hopped in the car for an hour’s drive to Albuquerque, which doubles for Los Angeles this season. That’s right, Dark Winds is headed to L.A., but rather than try and make 2025 L.A. look like the 1970s, it was far easier for the production to cast modern-day Albuquerque in the part. From what we were able to see, it appears to have been the right call. Arriving on-location in a local parking garage, we walked onto the live set between takes. Bustling with tension, we had the chance to see newcomer Franka Potente (who plays villainous Irene Vaggan this season) work to perfect the scene at hand (we won’t spoil with whom). From the moment we arrived, it was clear that everyone on set had a bulit-in desire to make this fourth season into the show’s very best. Series scribe and two-time director, Steven Paul Judd, was on set helming the episode we had stumbled into, and his enthusiasm for the show is contagious. “Writing’s one thing … but I really love to see what our actors bring to life,” he explained as we stood on the sidelines watching the performers prepare themselves for the next take. “The most exciting thing for me is to watch it.” While the wide-eyed writer-turned-director praises the show’s general Western aesthetic (a New Mexican staple that’s truly part of Dark Winds’ charm), he emphasized that Season 4 switches things up in exciting ways. “This year, it’s interesting to see our characters as fish-out-of-water here in Los Angeles, 1972,” he added, with one of the biggest visual shifts being seeing our leads out of uniform for the bulk of the season.
There Is Still Hope for Joe and Emma Leaphorn in ‘Dark Winds’ Season 4

Deanna Allison as Emma Leaphorn and Jenna Elfman as Sylvia Washington in Dark Winds Season 3Image via Michael Moriatis/AMC

Speaking of the cast, it wasn’t long before we had the chance to sit down with Joe Leaphorn himself. Zahn McClarnon may command the screen, but on set, he stands by as a quiet, but intentional, observer. As an executive producer on the series, McClarnon takes great pride in the whole production, as he should. “Season 4 is a lot,” he admitted. After all, it’s based on Tony Hillerman’s novel The Ghostway, though fans shouldn’t expect a one-for-one adaptation. As has been Dark Winds style since the beginning, McClarnon emphasized that although Hillerman provides the foundation, it’s the rest of the cast and crew who build on top of it.

But perhaps what fans are most anxious to see unfold in the fourth season is how things between Joe and Emma will be resolved. “Joe wants his wife back,” McClarnon states confidently. “Joe realizes, because of last season, some of his issues that he has personally, psychologically, and he is on a journey to amend himself this season.” For McClarnon, Joe’s arc in Season 4 is all about finding the right balance, and that includes how he aims to find a way back to the love of his life. “You don’t see many Native men and women relationships on television,” the Western star added. “So, I feel like this is the heart of the show, the love between Joe and Emma.” Of course, he isn’t the only one who feels that way. The breathtaking Deanna Allison graciously gave us a few moments to make clear that Emma hasn’t fully given up on Joe, even after how things ended between them last season. “Right now, her husband is in a place where he has to fix himself — so does she,” she noted. “She still believes it can work.” But even though the Leaphorns are working (albeit, somewhat slowly) on fixing the rift between them this season, there’s a lot more to Emma’s story than just that. “People still depend on her,” Allison notes about Emma’s role in the Navajo community. “She’s taken that opportunity [after last season] to really be that person she always wanted to be.” Refusing to bend to society’s demands for her, Season 4 will push Emma Leaphorn to greater limits as she fights not just for her marriage, but for her community as well. As the only long-running series regular without a badge and gun, Emma’s stories have always been deeply personal, though it appears that none will be more so than this.
Franka Potente Is ‘Dark Winds’ New Star — and She’s a Frightening Force That Sets Season 4 Apart

Irene Vaggan (Franka Potente) walks into a diner fully armed on ‘Dark Winds’ Season 4Image via AMC

Part of what sets Season 4 apart is Franka Potente. The German star of Run Lola Run and The Bourne Identity is the terrible (complimentary) force behind our hero’s pain this year as Irene Vaggan. “She scares me, I’ll tell you that,” admitted showrunner John Wirth, but Potente was always the first choice for the character. Although Vaggan is a man in Hillerman’s novel, Wirth didn’t want another Colton Wolf-type character for Season 4 (the character Nicholas Logan played in Season 2). “Erica Tremblay said to me in the writers’ room one day, ‘I have the perfect person to play this character,'” he revealed. When she showed him the picture of Potente on her phone, there was never anyone else. Watching Potente work was thrilling for sure. It’s easy to understand Wirth’s comments when you see her in action as Irene Vaggan, who is easily the greatest threat that Dark Winds has ever seen. The way she moves, the striking look in her eye, could easily make one’s skin crawl right off. Though we were unable to speak with Potente herself (“She’s really into it, she really internalizes everything,” Wirth told us), the entire cast and crew offered nothing but high praise. From what little we did see, there’s a lot to be excited about. With the daylight working hard against them, the cast and crew refocused their attention on finishing the day strong, and so we took our leave. Grateful for the opportunity to visit not just the day’s filming location in Albuquerque, but also the triumph that is Camel Rock Studios outside of Santa Fe, it’s clear that there just isn’t another show out there like Dark Winds, nor has there ever been. The series is a masterclass in neo-Western, mystery, and noir-style television that highlights an often overlooked population in the Southwestern United States. The tremendous effort and talent of the show’s cast and crew proves that AMC was right on the money in greenlighting this Navajo drama, which is unquestionably among the most memorable shows currently on air. With a group like this, Dark Winds Season 4 is sure to be another hit. Dark Winds Season 4 premieres on Sunday, February 15, 2026, on AMC and AMC+.