![\"Zahn](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/OCR-L-TV-DARKWINDS-0215-01.jpg\")
Zahn McClarnon as Joe Leaphorn and Jessica Matten as Bernadette Manuelito in \u201cDark Winds.\u201d (Photo Credit: Michael Moriatis\/AMC)<\/p>\nWhen the fourth season of the AMC series \u201cDark Winds\u201d begins, Lt. Joe Leaphorn is weary and getting ready to retire from the Navajo Tribal Police. <\/p>\n
Earlier in the series, which is set in the 1970s, Leaphorn had taken justice into his own hands, and he\u2019d nearly snapped last season due to the mounting repercussions for that decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Leaphorn may seem ready to step back, but the show\u2019s network AMC recently announced it will return for a fifth season; meanwhile, Zahn McClarnon, whose deeply inhabited performance as Leaphorn made the third season so riveting, is actually taking on more responsibility. McClarnon makes his directing debut with the second episode of the new season, and with the announcement of the renewal, he said in a recent interview that he hopes to get back behind the camera again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McClarnon and company are also moving into new territory in another way in this new season \u2013 while the show has always been centered around the Navajo Nation in Arizona and New Mexico, this season focuses on a young Navajo girl whose life is in jeopardy and who runs away to Los Angeles prompting Leaphorn and his sergeants, Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) and Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten) to go on the hunt in the big city. <\/p>\n
Exploring \u201970s-era L.A., Leaphorn, Chee and Manuelito\u2019s investigation takes them to a seedy motel, a pawn shop, a Wilshire Boulevard dive bar and the FBI building.<\/p>\n
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zahn McClarnon as Joe Leaphorn and Jessica Matten as Bernadette Manuelito in \u201cDark Winds.\u201d (Photo Credit: Michael Moriatis\/AMC)<\/p>\n
Q. Considering last season\u2019s storyline, I have to ask if you feel you could have burrowed so deeply into Joe\u2019s traumas in the first two seasons or did it help to live in his skin for a while?<\/p>\n
Getting to know and understand the character season by season allowed me to delve into a heck of a lot more. Also, the first season of any show, you\u2019re trying to get your footing. By the third season, the show found its direction, and I was embedded in the character. There\u2019s a lot in Joe\u2019s experience that I grew up around and that I could relate to. So I could get to that spot within myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Q. You\u2019re an executive producer and have been involved behind the scenes since the beginning. What are your priorities?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been a big part of production and pre-production since day one.\u00a0Authenticity is the No. 1 concern. We are trying to humanize and normalize Native culture. We\u2019re not a documentary. We\u2019re just a television show.<\/p>\n
And these are universals that we\u2019re dealing with \u2013 everybody has loss and love and community \u2013 but we take the culture and the authenticity very seriously. We utilize cultural consultants with the Navajo Nation, making sure everything, the ceremonies, the language, the props, are true to Navajo customs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another big thing for me is the show employing Native writers, Native directors, and Native crew \u2013 getting people a jumpstart in the business is very important to me because it\u2019s difficult to get your foot in the door. And I think we\u2019ve been accomplishing that.<\/p>\n
I give notes on the scripts, and I\u2019m constantly changing dialogue. It\u2019s not about big changes but just about the way Joe would say things.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Q. Do you read all the novels and look for ones you\u2019d like to see adapted?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve read 95 percent of the books. And we get together and collaborate on which books we should probably do. But we certainly take creative liberties \u2013Tony Hillerman\u2019s intentions were to honor the Indigenous people in their stories, but we have strong Indigenous voices within our writing room and our directors to recontextualize them into a more accurate point of view.<\/p>\n
Q. This season takes the Tribal Police to Los Angeles. What was that like for the characters?<\/p>\n
They\u2019re undercover and dealing with external factors that certainly require different tools and tactics than what they\u2019d use out on the reservation. But also, we touch on issues like the Relocation Act of 1956, which was passed to encourage Natives to leave their homes for cities for vocational training and jobs, but was just another form of trying to assimilate natives into the culture. This led to poverty and discrimination and the show asks how displacing people from their roots and their culture affects people.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Q. You directed the season\u2019s second episode. Was that something you always wanted to do?<\/p>\n
No. It was never really on my radar because it\u2019s so difficult to get your foot in the door. But AMC was kind enough to ask if I\u2019d want to direct. At first, it sounded overwhelming, but I realized I have a great team around me and that it would be ridiculous if I didn\u2019t take the opportunity to learn something new.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s what I\u2019ve gained from this show. I am learning so much about this business \u2013 how to make a television show, how to be a No. 1 on the call sheet. So I couldn\u2019t pass this up. And, you know, the episode turned out pretty good.<\/p>\n
Q. You have a great chase scene through the Indian Health Services building and some interesting shots, like one from underneath a medicine cabinet as it\u2019s being opened up. Did you have any favorite moments?<\/p>\n
That medicine cabinet shot was my favorite \u2013 but to be honest, it was more director of photography Blake Evans\u2019 idea than mine. We called it our \u201cSeverance\u201d shot, actually \u2013 he knows how much I love the style of that show, so we talked about going for that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Q. What were the biggest challenges?<\/p>\n
The prep work, going to the location, and sitting with the DP, going over how we\u2019re going to shoot it, and then applying our ideas on the day when we have such limited time because TV goes extremely fast \u2013 we have eight days to shoot an episode. I\u2019d love drone shots and big camera crane shots, but we can\u2019t go over budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Q. Did you learn anything about yourself as an actor from being on the other side of the camera?<\/p>\n
Yeah, I learned how much I dislike watching myself act.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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