New AMC Drama is Certified Fresh With 100% on Rotten Tomatoes

AMC's new drama, Dark Winds, just debuted on June 12th, but the new thriller is already winning over both critics and audiences alike. The series has a perfect, 100 percent critic's rating on Rotten Tomatoes and the series' audience score isn't far behind at 93 percent. The first season of the series will consist of six total episodes and airs on AMC and AMC+.

Set in the 1970s on a remote outpost of the Navajo Nation, Dark Winds follows two Navajo police officers Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) and Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) as they deal with a series of seemingly unrelated crimes, facing the trauma of their pasts as they search for clues. In addition to McClarnon and Gordon, the series stars Jessica Matten as Navajo police sergeant Bernadette Manuelito, Deanna Allison as Leaphorn's wife Emma, Rainn Wilson as degenerate missionary Devoted Dan, Elva Guerra as Sally Growing Thunder, Jeremiah Bitsui as Hoski, Eugene Brave Rock as Frank Nakai, and Noah Emmerich as burned-out FBI agent Whitover.

Dark Winds was created by Graham Roland and the series is directed by Chris Eyre and Sanford Bookstaver. Vince Calandra serves as showrunner and executive producer. Roland, McClarnon, Tina Elmo, Vince Gerardis, Eyre, Robert Redford, and Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin also executive produce. The series is based on the Leaphorn & Chee book series by Tony Hillerman.

"I am honored to be asked to star as the lead in this innovative series for AMC and to executive produce," McClarnon said previously. "To have the support and to be a part of a team which is led by two iconic visionaries as George R.R. Martin and Robert Redford is something to which I've always aspired. I believe as Indigenous people we are in a new era of progress in TV and film representation."

"I read my first Tony Hillerman novel in 1986 while filming in New Mexico and was immediately hooked," Robert Redford adds. "Hillerman is a master storyteller, his writing is full of mystery and suspense, set amidst a background that blends traditional oral stories of Native American culture and landscape. I am happy to partner with George R.R. Martin and AMC on this project and am especially grateful for the collaboration with President Nez and The Navajo Nation."

Dark Winds airs Sundays on AMC.