Raymond is recruited to assist Chee and Leaphorn.
Indigenous culture is not a monolith. Each people have their own language, customs, and stories that lasted for thousands of years before the colonization of the Americas. Much of this culture has been lost over time due to the genocide of the many Indigenous nations that once roamed the land, but many of these stories and legends live on in those descendants who persevere. The Navajo people are the second-largest federally recognized tribe in the United States, and the Navajo Nation encompasses much of the Southwest. The legends and stories of the Navajo culture have often mingled with those of the West, which may be why the Noir Western television series “Dark Winds” works so well. Starring Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon, Jessica Matten, and Deanna Allison, the show is based on the Leaphorn and Chee novel series by Tony Hillerman. Produced by George R. R. Martin and the late Robert Redford, the show premiered on AMC on June 12th, 2022, and has run for three seasons, with a fourth set to premiere on February 15th, 2026 and a fifth season for 2027.
The camera shows a quick close up of Raymond and his black high top chucks in the tribal jail.
The series follows Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (McClarnon), a veteran officer of the Navajo Tribal Police based in Kayenta. Leaphorn is an honest and decent man who looks out for the people of the reservation. At the start of the series, crime is small and usually involves nothing more than petty thefts. Joe’s loyal second in command is Sgt. Bernadette Manuelito (Matten), and they are joined by a new deputy, Jim Chee (Gordon). Quiet life on the reservation is interrupted when, in Gallup, New Mexico, robbers in a helicopter rob an armored truck, killing two guards. The helicopter flies over the reservation, where it is seen by an old man named Hosteen Tso. Three weeks later, Tso is found dead in a motel room with his eyes gouged out, along with Anna Atcitty, the granddaughter of a Medicine Woman he was visiting due to ailments. Anna was also the girlfriend of Joe’s late son, who died the year before. This makes this gruesome murder personal for him.
Lt. Leaphorn tries to get some information from Cecil.
This singular robbery sets in motion a series of crimes and mysteries that plague the reservation for the foreseeable future, bringing in radicals, serial killers, corrupt federal agents, and actual supernatural horrors. Outside of all these major problems, there are still the many faces that call the Navajo Nation home that Leaphorn and his officers must work with in order to keep some semblance of normalcy and solve these cases. People like Raymond (Quentin Yazzie), a local hustler who usually gives Leaphorn and Manuelito some fits running from the scene of his scams in his chucks, but gets roped into helping Joe solve the Season 1 case. Many of the Navajo people on this show wear chucks, which fits with the time period and setting. Life on the reservation in the 1970’s was tough financially, which this show mentions a lot, so pocket-friendly chucks would’ve been a popular option, not to mention they work well in the desert climate. This is why we also see George Bowlegs (Bodhi Okuma Linton) wearing well-worn high top white chucks in Season 3, which gets the mystery started for those episodes.
Sgt. Manuelito discovers Raymond’s chucks, but he is nowhere to be found.
This show is a great torch-bearer for the Western and Crime Noir genres, two underrepresented drama types, and they blend perfectly here. Zahn McClarnon is the heart and soul of the show, and he portrays Leaphorn in a way that’s grounded in realism yet always intriguing. He also brings some incredibly emotional moments throughout the show, and his rapport with both Chee and Manuelito is organic and believable. Kiowa Gordon is very charismatic as Jim Chee, and never comes across as brash or arrogant, even though the character slots into the “new hotshot” archetype. Jessica Matten is also such a great foil for both Chee and Leaphorn as someone who is much more no-nonsense than either of them. This show is also a highlight for how it represents Indigenous culture, struggle, and daily life in a way that feels authentic, largely due to the predominantly Native cast and crew.
Caught red-footed.
Chee takes down a farmstead suspect trying to run away.
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