TVLine Spotlight: Dark Winds Cast Teases Season 3 (Surprise Cameos Included), Hails ‘New Era’ of Native Representation — WATCH
The TVLine Spotlight shined on the cast of Dark Winds when Zahn McClarnon, Deanna Allison, Jessica Matten and Kiowa Gordon stopped by PMC’s New York ground floor studio on a rainy Wednesday night for a cozy Q&A before an audience of fans.
Season 3 premieres this Sunday at 9/8c, on AMC and AMC+.
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After inviting Allison, who plays Emma Leaphorn on the acclaimed 1970s crime drama, to effuse about her very first trip to the Big Apple — Carrie and Big’s wedding was supposed to happen right across from our studio! — I ask the cast to weigh in on Dark Winds‘ early Season 4 pick-up, at the start of the video below.
With the renewal also came the news that McClarnon, who stars as Det. Joe Leaphorn and is an executive producer on the series, will make his directorial debut in Season 4. “It scares the heck out of me,” he admits at the 4:15 mark.
At 5:30, the cast shares how moving from six- to eight-episode seasons with Seasons 3 and 4 “lets the series breathe” and spend more time with the individual characters, says Kiowa Gordon, who plays Deputy Jim Chee.
I then cue McClarnon & Co. to recall when the series was first pitched to them, some four years ago. Jessica Matten, who plays rookie Border Patrol agent Bernadette Manuelito, remembers jumping at the chance to work with McClarnon, “the best Native actor that we have.” (The 5-foot-10 actress also shares an anecdote about anxiously auditioning for Bern, who in the Tony Hillerman novels on which the TV series is based is a mere 5-foot-2.)
At the 10:45 mark, we get to teasing Season 3, which explores the “morally gray areas” that Joe dabbles in, including how he left the deplorable B.J. Vines at the close of Season 2. “He made some decisions that come back to haunt him,” McClarnon previews. On the brighter side, McClarnon and Allison speak of how the coming episodes make you realize “how much Joe Leaphorn loves his wife.”
Matten at the 14-minute mark quips that “Bern’ is burning down the house” this season, by being perhaps too good of a cop while working Border Patrol 500 miles away from Arizona’s Navajo County. She also opens up about avoiding the “over-sexualized ‘Pocahontas'” trope early in her career, but now finding empowerment as a Native American actress, as Season 3 highlights “more of Bernadette’s sexuality.”
It’s Gordon’s turn at the 16-minute mark to preview Chee’s upcoming clash with a high school rival, played by former pro boxer Derek Hinkey (American Primeval). “Chee’s monster kind of comes out,” he warns. We then have a chuckle over the oh-so-1970s suit that Jim sported in Season 2.
From there, McClarnon fields a TVLine reader Q about the Louisa Bourbonette character from the novels… Matten and Gordon share fun anecdotes about filming Jim and Bern’s first kiss… the cast celebrates upcoming guest stars such as Jenna Elfman (and Gordon pointing out a three-person Twilight movies reunion)… and they weigh in on a reader question about the renaissance in Native American storytelling.
The TVLine Spotlight conversation closes out at the 25-minute mark with spoiler-free teasing of two surprise cameos in Sunday’s season opener, and then some in-studio audience questions about Matten’s advocacy work/7 Forward production shingle, what (if anything!) McClarnon remembers about his Westworld run, and Gordon’s take on Twilight co-star Taylor Lautner’s new, meta TV series.
Want scoop on Dark Winds, or for any other TV show ? Shoot an email to [email protected], and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
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