‘Dark Winds’ EP Teases ‘Nothing Is As It Seems’ in AMC Crime Drama

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