Zahn McClarnon Says ‘Dark Winds’ Season 2 is More ‘Native Noir’ Than Season 1 (Exclusive)

Dark Winds Season 2 begins on Sunday, and series star Zahn McClarnon says fans are in for a tense “native noir” story. This season finds Lt. Joe Leaphorn (McClarnon), Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon), and Sgt. Manuelito (Jesica Matten) is somewhat disconnected after the events of Season 1. While Leaphorn and Manuelito are still working for Valencia County Sheriff Gordo Sena (A Martinez), Chee has left the force to work as a private investigator.

However, the trio reunites as their “separate cases bring them together in pursuit of the same suspect,” per an official Season 2 synopsis. “They find themselves in the high desert of Navajo Country chasing a killer who’s turned his sights on them to protect a secret that rips open old wounds and challenges Leaphorn’s moral and professional code. With the help of Sheriff Gordo, “Leaphorn and Chee must thwart their would-be assassin and restore balance not only to their own lives, but to the reservation that depends on them.”

Recently, PopCulture.com had a chance to chat with McClarnon about the new season, and he told us that he feels “most of the heavy lifting was done by Tony Hillerman,” the late author of the Leaphorn & Chee book series, which the show is adapted from. “As far as Joe Leaphorn the character, there’s so much source material there for me to latch onto,” McClarnon said. “But, as with the stories, as the books, and as an actor, you kind of recontextualize things a little bit different and you come from a different perspective and bring your own life, who I am as a human being, to that character.”

McClarnon went on to offer, “I think this year that we tried to bring a little bit more levity to the stories, the relationships. That was important to us, but you’re not really thinking about those kind of things when you’re working. You know what I mean? You have text in front of you, you learn your dialogue and you have those guidelines.”

He added, “When you’re working, you’re always tapping into those guidelines as the characteristics of Joe Leaphorn, but not really thinking about where it’s taking you. It’s that you’re unconscious of it, I think… When it comes to acting. You prep and you show up and you try to be honest as possible with this character.”

In addition to Hillerman, McClarnon also gave a lot of credit to the show’s writers, saying, “I liked the way they took the storyline this season a lot, and that was a lot to do with John Wirth, our new showrunner, who’s fantastic. And he’s been doing this a long time and he took the storyline in a different direction and he put these characters in certain situations that they weren’t in last year. I guess you have to tune in to find out what happens and where these characters go.”

One thing that fans of the show will notice about Dark Winds Season 2 is that it has a much more noir tone than Season 1, but it never sacrifices intensity. “In pre-production, we talked about that quite a bit, of trying to shoot it a little bit more noir as far as the lighting and some of the camera angles,” McClarnon explained. “The directors got more into that, and the showrunner obviously got more into that than I was privy to. There was definitely an agenda to try to make it more noir this season. Native noir.”

The main protagonist this time around is Colton Wolf, a mysteriously sinister character portrayed brilliantly by Nicholas Logan. Speaking on working opposite Logan, McClarnon said, “Nick is a fantastic actor. Nick is a fantastic human being as well, and he’s completely opposite of what his character is in real life. He’s a professional. He was up for anything that we did.”

McClarnon cautiously added, “I can’t ruin any of the storyline, but… There are certain things that we did that involved a lot of physicality, and Nick was the first one to jump up and say, “Do this, do that.” He’s just a professional guy and I’m so happy that we hired him. I saw a lot of auditions for that role, and Nick popped out immediately. It was funny because I was with talking with the showrunner and we were going over auditions and the first name that popped out of both of our mouths at the same time was Nick.”

He then continued, “He’s such a good actor and he is just a good dude to be around, to work with. And that’s what it comes down to is that’s what you want to do, is you want to work with nice people, man. You want to work with good people you get along with and that you feel like going to work for and you want to be in the trenches with. So Nick is one of those dudes for sure.” 

Dark Winds Season 2 debuts on Sunday, July 30 at 9pm ET/PT on AMC, with new episodes airing weekly on Sundays. AMC+ subscribers can stream the season premiere now, with new episodes available every Thursday. Keep it locked to PopCulture.com for more exciting TV news, reviews, and interviews!