From the moment that Dark Winds launched on AMC, fans were floored by the Tony Hillerman adaptation. Zahn McClarnon and Kiowa Gordon brought Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee to life in a way that longtime readers dreamed of, and with plenty of engaging characters and plotlines, it seemed as if the show was going to be a continual homerun. From the get-go, Dark Winds was presented as a series that aimed to reinterpret Hillerman’s original source material into something more accurate to the genuine Navajo Nation experience. But despite these ideals, there was one thing that the first season lacked that changed the direction of the show going forward: authenticity. Thankfully, that’s something that the show fought hard to remedy by the time Season 2 came around.

‘Dark Winds’ Fought For Cultural Accuracy After Its First Season

Image via AMC

When Dark Winds first launched on AMC in 2021, critics raved about the series for its groundbreaking work in Native American representation. Headlined by longtime TV star Zahn McClarnon (who previously appeared on Longmire, The Son, and Westworld), the series featured an impressive Native cast and a writers’ room full of indigenous creatives excited to tackle these 1980s mysteries. Partnered with shows like FX’s Reservation Dogs, the Peacock sitcom Rutherford Falls, and later Marvel’s Echo, it seemed as if Hollywood was finally allowing Native American voices (on both the cast and crew) to be heard. But although Dark Winds attempted to be accurate to the reservation experience from the get-go, there were certain liberties taken for the sake of television — liberties that were criticized by Navajo (or Diné, as they call themselves) audiences. This was true, even with the fact that Deanna Allison, who plays Emma Leaphorn, is Diné, and grew up in a traditional Navajo home in the Colorado River Tribes.

According to the Navajo Times, some Diné viewers were unhappy with the portrayals of fetishism, the pronunciation of certain words in the Diné bizaad language, and other cultural misunderstandings displayed throughout the first season. “It’s all [Tony] Hillerman’s made-up spirituality and world,” explained Zefren Anderson, a Diné local familiar with the books. “If they went for authenticity, I think I would be insulted, but in the end, it’s entertaining and Hollywood Navajo culture. I will recommend and watch more – just don’t take the portrayals seriously.” Other viewers from the Navajo Nation weren’t so kind, with Native News Online reporting that some refused to watch beyond the first episode. Despite the intentions of the creatives involved, including Season 1 showrunner Vince Calandra, the show pivoted going into its second season.

When speaking about these criticisms, Dark Winds executive producer and prolific director Chris Eyre (the creative mind behind Smoke Signals) promised that any corrections that needed to be made would be. “It’s critically important to all of us that we represent the culture correctly,” he explained in the aforementioned Navajo Times article. “As we go forward, we want to make sure we’re reflecting as much as we can of Navajo culture in the best way.” Of course, this wasn’t the only major shakeup between seasons. Showrunner Vince Calandra left the production ahead of its second season, with former Hell on Wheels showrunner John Wirth taking over from that point on.

‘Dark Winds’ Employs Navajo Cultural Consultants to Ensure Authenticity

The various comments and complaints about Dark Winds Season 1 (which, from a narrative perspective, is still an excellent piece of work) ultimately led to AMC hiring George R. Joe as a cultural advisor for the sophomore season. As Joe told The Los Angeles Times, “I saw an opportunity to make an impact from within by helping create more accurate portrayals of the Navajo culture.” Credited as the “cultural advisor” for the first four episodes of Season 2, Dark Winds quickly corrected course, doing its best to honor its real-life Diné audience. By the time Season 3 was in development, the production had hired husband-and-wife duo Manny and Jennifer Wheeler as its new language and cultural consultants, who contributed as early on in the process as in the writer’s room. It’s no wonder that, unlike the previous two seasons, the titles of every third season episode are expressed in both the English and Diné languages.

“Authenticity is our number one concern,” series lead Zahn McClarnon told Native News Online ahead of the third season. “We utilize some brilliant cultural consultants from the Navajo Nation, Jennifer and Manny Wheeler, to make sure everything, from ceremonies and language to props to wardrobe, is true to Navajo customs.” It was almost like Dark Winds had been rebuilt from the ground up, which is probably why we noted that the third season was “as mysterious and gripping as ever.” In our exclusive Season 3 interview with McClarnon, he added that there are things that exist in the Diné culture (as well as in the Hillerman books) that simply cannot be brought to the screen out of respect for the people. But that hasn’t stopped the production from adapting certain elements of Navajo life, such as the monstrous “Ye’iitsoh,” in creative ways that prey upon our hero’s fears.

Likewise, Chris Eyre praised the writers for further embracing the Navajo culture going into the third season. “Certainly, the Native American writers have given this a dimension of authenticity that I don’t think was as built out in the [Leaphorn and Chee adaptation] 20 years ago,” he told Collider. “So, I think the writers have really amped it up and leveled it up to an authenticity without being egotistical about it.” Having course-corrected over time, Dark Winds has thrived as one of AMC’s biggest television hits, with the fourth season set to premiere in February 2026. As the neo-Western continues to surprise audiences with its well-paced mysteries and intense personal arcs, we cannot wait to see where Leaphorn and Chee will go next.

Dark Winds is available for streaming on AMC+.