The Navajo Nation crime drama Dark Winds, based on Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn and Chee novels, has arrived in the UK after its US broadcast. Starring Zahn McClarnon as tribal police lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, the series is set in 1971 and features a predominantly indigenous cast, with extensive use of the Diné Bizaad language.
The plot intertwines a deadly armoured car heist and a double murder at a motel, forcing Leaphorn to collaborate with an FBI agent played by Noah Emmerich. Despite the FBI's condescending attitude, Leaphorn agrees to help in exchange for resources to investigate the killings, which have a witness: a blind healer.
The series explores personal grief and cultural tensions, with Leaphorn and his wife Emma grappling with past trauma. Deputy Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon), a university-educated officer returning to the reservation, harbours his own agenda. The atmospheric mystery unfolds against the vast Monument Valley landscape, drawing on Navajo traditions and history.
McClarnon, known for roles in Reservation Dogs and Fargo, delivers a compelling performance as a watchful, empathetic leader. The series arrives alongside Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, prompting reflections on the treatment of Native Americans in crime narratives. Dark Winds has been renewed for a third season in the US.
