Robert Redford, an überfan of Tony Hillerman’s iconic crime novels featuring Navajo Tribal police officers Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, teams with fellow executive producer George R.R. Martin and a predominantly Native American writers’ room and cast for Dark Winds, his most ambitious Hillerman adaptation yet.
(Credit: Michael Moriatis/Stalwart Productions/AMC)
Based primarily on Listening Woman, the twisty psychological thriller opens in 1971 with two violent crimes: a bank heist in Gallup, New Mexico, and a double murder on the nearby reservation.
Investigating both are seasoned Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) and instinctual Sgt. Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten), joined by prickly Chee (Kiowa Gordon), a new recruit with a secret agenda.
Expect condescension and interference from FBI supervisor Whitover (The Americans’ Noah Emmerich) as the cases inevitably intertwine. Though it appears “the bank robbery is a ‘white crime,’ and the other an ‘Indian crime,’” warns EP and director Chris Eyre, “nothing is as it seems.”
Dark Winds, Series Premiere, Sunday, June 12, 9/8c, AMC