In the first season of Dark Winds — AMC’s Western noir thriller that follows Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) on a remote outpost of the Navajo Nation near Monument Valley — the pandemic made it impossible to shoot on an actual reservation.
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Fortunately, that changed in Season 2, which meant that the cast and crew could not only work on actual Navajo land but also rent an old casino that helped out the local tribe and employed local indigenous people in the production.
“It’s important we get it right,” McClarnon said Saturday at Deadline’s Contenders Television awards-season event. “It’s not a documentary. We do our best to get it right, but we always miss something. It’s still a fictional TV show.”
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Part of the thrill of starring and exec producing the drama is that McClarnon gets to work alongside fellow producers George R.R. Martin and Robert Redford. The series is created by Graham Roland and based on Tony Hillerman’s popular Leaphorn & Chee book series.
“People enjoy the show,” McClarnon said. “I just want people to be entertained. It’s fantastic we are finally getting our own voice, Native peoples. I hope that Dark Winds opens up that door a little bit more.”
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Check back Tuesday for the panel video.
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