'Dark Winds' Season 4 Looks Like the Series' Most Haunting Chapter Yet
Is there room for the law and spirituality to coexist or will one forsake the other?
Joe Leaphorn carries the weight of the land, the law, and his people as Dark Winds prepares its most ambitious season yet.
The official trailer for Dark Winds Season 4 doesn’t shout its intentions—it chants them. Low, deliberate, and heavy with consequence, the footage feels less like a tease and more like a warning of what’s to come: not only a test of the limits of the law, but the soul of the man who swore to uphold it.
Set to return Sunday, February 15 at 9pm ET/PT on AMC and AMC+, Season 4 immediately announces itself as a turning point. The series—executive produced by Robert Redford and George R.R. Martin—already holds the rare distinction of 100% Rotten Tomatoes score for each of its first three seasons. The trailer suggests that perfection doesn’t come from safety, but from risk.
At the center of it all remains Zahn McClarnon as Lt. Joe Leaphorn—now also stepping behind the camera for his television directorial debut. In one of the trailer’s most telling moments, Joe states plainly: “you cannot separate spirituality from upholding the law.” It’s not a thesis. It’s a confession. But the statement feels weighted given the reveals in Season 3 which begs the question: will Joe choose spirituality and the law, or will one cloud the judgement of the other?
Off the lands of the reservation
Season 4 pivots to the disappearance of a Navajo girl, a case that draws Leaphorn, Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon), and Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten) out of the familiarity of the lands and into the unforgiving sprawl of 1970s Los Angeles.
The trailer paints LA as hostile ground—loud, crowded, and morally disorienting. It’s here that the investigation comes face-to-face with organized crime, and a government system that colonized, displaced, and continues to exploit its native inhabitants. This season hinges not only on solving the case, but on the very survival of a culture.
The burden of responsibility is heaviest when alone
Emotionally, the trailer signals that Joe Leaphorn is still reeling from the fallout of Season 3—a case that made his wife Emma (Deanna Allison) question the foundation of their union. This fracture in their marriage grows wider by distance and unspoken conversations that must be had. No longer a place of grounding, Joe must contend with the consequences of his choices and actions without his best friend and greatest confidante. Will he drop his pride and burden of sole responsibility of the lands long enough to heal old wounds? Or will his family life impact his ability to function clearly in a high-profile case?
Bernadette, now moving with greater confidence and clarity, and Chee, increasingly attuned to the spiritual undercurrents, feel poised to challenge that isolation with a refusal to let him carry the weight alone—whether Joe is willing to accept it or not. This team dynamic is ultimately the heart of the show and why we keep coming back for more.
New face. New case
Season 4 also introduces a formidable lineup of new characters, each adding texture to the expanding world:
Franka Potente as Irene Vaggan
Isabel DeRoy-Olson as Billie Tsosie, a Navajo teenager fighting for autonomy
Chaske Spencer as Sonny, a recruiter exploiting displaced Native men
Luke Barnett as FBI Agent Toby Shaw
Titus Welliver as Dominic McNair, a ruthless crime boss
The return of A. Martinez, as Chief Gordo Sena
Each presence feels less like a guest spot and more like an omen.
Season 4 makes big promises
Dark Winds has always lived in the tension between justice and belief, between Western law and Indigenous spirituality. Season 4’s trailer suggests that balance is no longer theoretical—it’s under siege.
Joe Leaphorn is still carrying the reservation on his shoulders. The question now isn’t whether he can solve the case—but whether he can survive doing it alone.
Check out the trailer below and tune in Sunday, February 15 at 9pm ET/PT only on AMC (AMC+ subscribers get early access Sundays at 3am ET/PT ).