‘Dark Winds’ Team Previews Biggest Season Yet as Leaphorn & Crew Explore ‘Moral Gray Areas’

Dark Winds is raising the stakes with its long-awaited third season as the AMC hit once again picks up the story of Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) as he tackles a new mystery alongside Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon). But old actions continue to haunt the leading man after he left businessman B.J. Vines (John Diehl) for dead in the desert at the end of Season 2.

With Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten) miles away serving a post at Border Patrol, the main trio is fractured in a sense as they’re faced with new threats in the form of a couple of series newbies, FBI Special Agent Sylvia Washington (Jenna Elfman) and Tom Spenser (Bruce Greenwood). “We made the decision to adapt two novels this year,” showrunner John Wirth tells TV Insider, explaining that Season 3 takes influence from Tony Hillerman’s Dance Hall of the Dead and The Sinister Pig, the second and 16th novels in the Leaphorn/Chee series.

“We were backed into this situation by moving Bernadette off the Navajo Tribal Police Force at the end of Season 2,” Wirth explains. “So we had to invent a story for her to sustain her time at the Border Patrol, and I really liked [The Sinister Pig] a lot. So I asked the writers if there was a way we could combine Dance Hall of the Dead with Sinister Pig and do a mashup of these two novels. So that’s how [Season 3] became bigger than we thought it would be.”

For perspective, Wirth reveals, “The show just grew exponentially, and then we tried to figure out how to make those two stories work together. I won’t say it turned out to be one story because it didn’t, but the two stories connected in a pretty satisfying way.” While the show has already been renewed for Season 4, don’t let the promise of more episodes lull you into a sense of ease for the characters at the center of this ’70s-set desert noir.

“In this era of peak television where these dramas are competing with everybody else… I think nobody is safe in a cast like this,” Wirth teases. “This is a dangerous world they’re living in and the work they’re doing is dangerous.” Below, Wirth, stars McClarnon, Gordon, Matten, and Elfman all offer a peek behind the Dark Winds Season 3 curtain.

Leaphorn’s Ghosts

Leaphorn is still grappling with the actions he took in Season 2. “We continue the exploration of the tragedy that befell the Leaphorn family, the ramifications of their son’s death, what consequences come to Leaphorn for his actions and, how that affects his mental state, his relationships around him, including his marriage with Emma (Deanna Allison),” McClarnon says. “Joe struggles with a lot of guilt this season.”

Part of that guilt is manifested in a legendary Navajo monster, which plagues Leaphorn’s latest investigation revolving around two missing boys. “He finds himself in some moral gray areas,” McClarnon clarifies, adding that Leaphorn’s recent choices “may cost him” and cause him “a lot of fear and anxiety this season.”

Not helping the matter is the arrival of FBI Special Agent Sylvia Washington who, according to McClarnon, “puts Joe on notice.” Her arrival raises the stakes, risking Leaphorn’s position and everything he’s worked for. “She’s got this quirky way about her,” McClarnon adds, noting that his stature compared to Elfman helped to further convey Leaphorn and Agent Washington’s divide. “She’s very tall and I’m very short, so there was that intimidation thing going on and different dynamics between these two characters.”

Meet FBI Agent Sylvia Washington

Agent Washington claims to be on Navajo Nation territory with the purpose of buttoning up old cases, but her role is slightly mysterious, as she’s not exactly forthcoming about what cases she’s focusing on. “She has something to prove as a woman in this male-dominated environment,” Elfman tells TV Insider.

“At the same time, here she is with her white entitlement just setting herself up on the Rez police station without a second thought about any nuance to that whatsoever that I am on their land,” she notes of Agent Washington’s sudden presence on Indigenous land. “There’s all of these nuances and her having this light flippancy about her as a technique to make people underestimate her,” she adds, noting there’s more than meets the eye to this new character.

Bernadette at the Border

Meanwhile, Bernadette Manuelito is facing her own struggles at Border Patrol, 500 miles away from Leaphorn and Chee. But as she tackles her own investigation, Matten is more than up for the challenge. “It was exciting to explore because you get to go into the mindset of someone leaving their reserve in their community for the first time. So I was keeping that mind,” Matten shares.

Although viewers have gotten to know a bold and brash Bernadette over the seasons, the new environment will see her operating in new ways. “I always think about the power dynamics of a character. And so she’s still herself, she’s still bold, but she has to answer to higher-ups this time where she can’t necessarily talk back to them because they’re not family the way Joe Leaphorn is like family,” Matten says.

She’ll pursue a mystery that involves human trafficking and the operations of rancher Tom Spenser. “In my personal life, I’m very passionate about the storyline because I think in terms of trafficking and missing and murdered Indigenous women, that’s always going to be a relevant topic when telling Indigenous stories because it is an issue that is still very real to this day,” Matten explains.

As Matten points out, Season 2 saw Bernadette address Leaphorn regarding the legal system and how it’s broken. “It’s kind of like a snowball effect where you see more so what that really means and how justice is not necessarily served in the exact same manner,” Matten teases.

But how does the rancher get into the smuggling and criminal world? There are certain circumstances, and Tom Spenser is a man that many say not to mess with. “Despite being warned off by everybody not to go head-to-head with him, she can’t help herself,” Wirth teases, “and so she ends up taking him on.” In other words, it’s a match not-to-be-missed.

Digging Into Chee’s History

As for Jim Chee, viewers saw him explore the private investigator life in Season 2 before returning to the Navajo police force alongside Leaphorn for this latest chapter, which will uncover more about his history. “He’s battling his past as well, what he’s been through and what he still hasn’t confronted,” Gordon teases of Chee’s Season 3 journey, comparing it to Leaphorn’s own struggles. “He’s throwing himself into community work, being a cop again, and working side by side with Leaphorn is what he really wants to do right now,” Gordon continues, noting that it’s important for Chee to “stay busy” for now.

Viewers will get to see how his history is unveiled in earlier episodes of the season, and rest assured, there’s still more to uncover around his dynamic with Bernadette after Season 2’s finale kiss.

Stay tuned for more excitement as Dark Winds returns and let us know what you hope to see in the comments section, below.

Dark Winds, Season 3 Premiere, Sunday, March 9, 9/8c, AMC/AMC+