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AMC's Dark Winds has been lauded for its tense storytelling, psychological complexity, and its thoughtful representation of Indigenous life in the 1970s American Southwest. Adapted from Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn & Chee novels, the series tracks three Navajo tribal officers Joe Leaphorn, Jim Chee, and Bernadette Manuelito, through crimes that brush up against community, culture, and corruption.
Against the desert landscape of Four Corners, the show cleverly walks that fine line between progress and custom, revealing historical wrongs of the Native American experience.
Among the series's strongest, lowest-key storylines is Sally Growing Thunder's. A young Navajo woman seeks refuge at the homes of Joe and Emma Leaphorn. Introduced in season 1, Sally is pregnant and terrified, caught up in a much greater web of violence and silence.
Her story is not only personal, it is also a thematic filter for examining reproductive rights, systemic abuse, and the strength of Native women.
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As her background unfolds, viewers learn that her pregnancy is deeply tied to the central conflict of the series, and that the identity of her baby’s father is more than just a personal revelation it’s a key to understanding the wider stakes of the show’s story.
The father of Sally's baby in Dark Winds is James Tso, the leader of the Buffalo Society.
Exploring in detail the identity of Sally's baby's father in Dark Winds
Sally Growing Thunder’s baby is the child of James Tso, also known by his alias, Hoski. Tso is the main villain during season 1 of Dark Winds and the head of the extremist group called the Buffalo Society.
Although his character is presented as a revolutionary leader seeking to overthrow systemic oppression, the show is not afraid to demonstrate the violence he unleashes in the name of justice.
Tso's attack on Sally, a vulnerable young girl, is finally discovered in the course of the investigation into the activities of the Buffalo Society.
The revelation of Tso as the father of Sally's child comes late in season 1. There is some uncertainty initially about her pregnancy, and the danger posed by Tso and his accomplices hangs over Sally's safety.
Joe Leaphorn becomes suspicious at one point that Frank Nakai, another Buffalo Society member, will target Sally because he believes her unborn child has something to do with their group.
But Joe's wife, Emma, who is a nurse, later tells him that Sally has told her: James Tso is the father. This revelation is important not only for Sally's narrative, but for enhancing the viewer's awareness of Tso as a character whose revolutionary values are undermined by personal acts of cruelty and exploitation.
How did Sally get pregnant, and what happened afterwards in Dark Winds?
Sally had gotten pregnant by James Tso, who attacked her, something that is hidden for most of season 1. Sally, when she makes her first appearance in the show, is already pregnant, and her traumatic background is kept under wraps.
Upon her mother helping a fugitive evade custody, Sally becomes a ward of the Leaphorns and finds herself having protection and security.
Emma specifically becomes a mother figure, who comes to her aid through the final months of pregnancy and ensures she gets adequate care.
Throughout seasons 1 and 2, Sally's plot is used as a tool for broader themes in Dark Winds, particularly those concerning real-world history surrounding the forced sterilization of Native women in America.
By following Sally's journey, the series addresses reproductive autonomy, intergenerational cultural knowledge, and the value of communal care in a delicate way.
The most critical part of her trajectory is the illustration of her Kinaaldá a Navajo traditional coming-of-age ritual marking a girl's passage into womanhood. Conducted despite trauma she has faced, this ritual reaffirms Sally's agency and the cultural resilience that sustains her.
By season 2's conclusion, Sally has had her son and decides to leave the Leaphorns' house to raise her child on her own.
Her exit represents a new beginning in her life, one defined not by fear, but by hope and self-reliance.
Interested viewers can watch the latest season of Dark Winds as well as the previous seasons on AMC, AMC+.
