Dark Winds season 3: Everything we know so far

Dark Winds is an AMC series based on Tony Hillerman's iconic Leaphorn and Chee novels. Here is everything we know about Dark Winds Season 3, which was greenlit in September 2024.

The show follows detectives Joe Leaphorn (Zach McClarnon) and Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) and is set in the 1970s when the original novels were written.

Leaphorn and Chee are officers of the Navajo Tribal Police and the show follows the trials and tribulations they face as law enforcement officers on a Native American reservation. Dark Winds Season 3 is expected to release in early 2025.

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Everything we know about Dark Winds Season 3

Kiowa Gordon and Jessica Matten. (Image via AMC)

Dark Winds Season 3 was greenlit in September 2024 with an early 2025 release window, following the conclusion of Season 2. According to Dan McDermott, president of entertainment at AMC Studios,

We started this journey with very high hopes for this series, given the remarkable source material and extraordinary creative team behind it, and it has delivered on every level.

As Season 1 adapted Listening Woman and Season 2 adapted People of Darkness from Tony Hillerman's novel series, Dark Winds Season 3 might adapt the novel The Dark Winds as it is next in the series. However, no official word has been given on what direction the Season 3 story will take.

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What is the story so far?

Zach McClarnon and Kiowa Gordon (Image via AMC)

Dark Winds is an adaptation of Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn and Chee novels. The first two seasons took major creative liberty with the novels by having Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee work together at the outset.

In the novels, only Joe Leaphorn is present in Listening Woman and only Jim Chee is present in People of Darkness. The two didn't work together until the seventh novel in the series, Skinwalkers.

Season 1 covers the fallout from a robbery in Gallup, New Mexico, which is witnessed by Hosteen Tso, a resident of Navajo territory. After Tso is brutally murdered, Detective Joe Leaphorn is assigned to investigate the case.

Jim Chee is then partnered with him as an undercover FBI agent because his superior, Agent Whitover, suspects that Navajo radicals are the true culprits behind the robbery, and doesn't trust Leaphorn to adequately manage the case.

Season 2 follows Leaphorn and Chee investigating separate cases only to close in on the same suspect. With their lives on the line, they once again work together to thwart the threat menacing Navajo Country, even as their morals are challenged more than ever.

The emotional stakes and the degree of representation the show has given to Native Americans have earned the show critical acclaim, with both seasons having a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

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Dark Winds cast and characters

Jessica Matten stars as Bernadette Manuelito. (Image via AMC)

The main and recurring cast of Dark Winds are as follows:

• Zach McClarnon as Joe Leaphorn
• Kiowa Gordon as Jim Chee
• Jessica Matten as Bernadette Manuelito
• Deanna Allison as Joe's wife, Emma Leaphorn.
• Elva Guerra as Sally Growing Thunder
• DezBaa' as Helen Atcitty.
• Ryan Begay as Guy Atcitty.
• Natalie Benally as Natalie Bluehouse.

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Dark Winds Season 3 promises to be a compelling watch for fans of AMC who are eager for greater representation of Native Americans in pop culture. The show is available for streaming on AMC+ for viewers in the United States and Canada.