When Zahn McClarnon started as an actor in the 1990s, the idea of a Native American protagonist—especially one in a series populated largely by other Indigenous characters—seemed a distant dream. McClarnon, who grew up spending a lot of time on the Blackfeet Indian reservation with his Lakota grandparents, was frequently discouraged by the limited opportunities he faced until recent years when he began earning bigger roles on series like “Fargo,” “Longmire” and “Westworld”

When Graham Roland started writing and then producing for television 15 years ago, the idea of a series about Native Americans, featuring Indigenous directors and crew, seemed unlikely as well. Roland, who has Chickasaw roots, wrote, produced and created shows with White stars and crew: “Prison Break,” “Fringe,” and “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.”

But new ground was broken last year with the sitcom “Reservation Falls” on Peacock and the dramedy “Reservation Dogs” on FX, both featuring numerous Indigenous actors, writers, directors, and crew members. Now McClarnon is starring in Roland’s newest series “Dark Winds,” which premieres Sunday on AMC at 9 p.m. 

The show is based on one of Tony Hillerman’s crime novels about two Native law enforcement agents, Joe Leaphorn (McClarnon) and Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon, who is of Hualapai descent), although it has also expanded the role of a third officer, Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten, who is of Red River Metis-Cree heritage). The series takes place on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and gives numerous Navajo actors their first break, including Deanna Allison, who plays Leaphorn’s wife, Emma.

The executive producers include George R.R. Martin, Robert Redford, and Chris Eyre, who directed the pilot and who belongs to the Cheyenne and Arapho tribes. Redford first optioned the books decades ago, hoping to create a film series. A first effort directed by Errol Morris starring Lou Diamond Phillips was shelved in the early 1990s. A decade later, Redford produced three Hillerman adaptations for PBS starring Wes Studi and Adam Beach as Leaphorn and Chee; Eyre directed two of those films.

While the show is a crime thriller, it also touches on numerous issues, including land and mineral rights; the practice of White doctors illegally performing surgeries on Indigenous women so they could not have more children; the government creating Indian schools that forcibly attempted to deracinate Native Americans.

McClarnon and Roland recently spoke separately by video about their experiences in Hollywood and about the new show and what it means for them and for the Native community. The interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

Q. Zahn, in the years when it was difficult to get any parts in Hollywood, much less fleshed-out roles, were you ever tempted to walk away from acting?

McClarnon: I didn’t have a backup plan. It was either working as an actor or washing dishes or construction. So I stuck with it. Then around 2014 things started opening more. Things have been changing slowly for decades—we’re not just on horses whooping and yelling anymore—it’s just not changing as fast as we’d want. Every year, it gets slightly better.  

I love roles where I’m not playing my ethnicity, although those don’t come around that often. But we also want to tell our stories and have representation in the writing rooms and directing and producing. Right now, we’re in a unique moment in time for Indigenous representation with “Rutherford Falls,” “Reservation Dogs” and now “Dark Winds.” 

We’ve got a voice finally in media. To be a part of this moment is special. 

Q. Graham, were you looking to write something that specifically reflected your Native heritage? 

Roland: I’d always had this dream about doing a show in a Native community with a Native protagonist. In my dad’s generation, Natives were always the antagonist; in my generation in the ‘90s, there were strides forward—”Dances with Wolves” went to great lengths to humanize Native characters—but you’re still seeing the Native community through a White character’s eyes.

Bob [Redford] has been trying to get these books made since the 1980s. Most people would have given up. His original vision was for a series of films but now it makes sense to do it as a TV show so he and George [R.R. Martin] sat down with Chris Eyre and then in 2019 they came to me to write it. 

I hadn’t read the Tony Hillerman books but when they were put in front of me I was only a few pages in when I realized this was what I was looking for. 

Q. Bernadette plays a crucial role in the struggle for justice for the crimes that were committed. Was that all in the book or did you update it?

Roland: Bernadette was a great character in Hillerman’s books and is a much bigger character now that his daughter Anne has taken over the series. But times have changed and early on Chris, George, Bob and I decided we need to make this character as formidable as her male counterparts. We wanted to make her every bit as important to the story as Leaphorn and Chee. 

Q. But you didn’t fully modernize the show. Does the 1970s setting make it easier to take on certain issues?

Roland: Yes. The characters had dealt with some of these issues—Chris and I both had relatives who were taken from their homes and forced to go to these schools, where they had their hair cut and were not allowed to speak their language. That’s such a big part of the Native story so putting it back then allowed us to talk about traumas that were experienced in a way that felt organic. 

Q. How important was it that Joe Leaphorn not just fight crime on the reservation but also have a mature and well-developed relationship with his wife and others in his family and community?

Roland: I was conscious of wanting this show to be universal, to be an entertaining cop thriller and have everyone grab onto these characters and identify with them, so the universality of Joe’s experience was important.

McClarnon: A lot of the characters I played before “Fargo” were pretty one-dimensional and I rarely do the leading man thing so it’s nice to have a fully rounded human being where you are exploring real relationships. It was great to explore the pain and hurt he went through. That’s why I act, to be able to dive into these characters. 

Q. When there are so many Indigenous characters, it frees you up to not have them be representatives, but to just be human—they can be good guys and bad guys and everything in between. Is it exciting that instead of saying, “Here’s one of us,” you are saying, “Here’s all of us?”

Roland: Not having to write the good Indian or the polite Indian and put every hope on one person is refreshing. It’s really exciting to write all these walks of life and “Reservation Dogs” has proven there is an audience for these stories.

Related Articles

Q. Amidst the robberies, kidnapping and murders on the reservation, there are celebratory scenes like a native ceremony for Leaphorn’s niece. Is it important to show that too?

McLarnon: You’d be surprised how uninformed people are about Native culture. I’ve had kids coming up to me and doing “Woo, woo, woo” sounds∞ even in the last few years. Our culture was never taught in our schools and what was there was misrepresented. There’re hundreds of tribes: Each one has own customs and traditions. Authenticity is always important to us, we had the proper cultural and language advisors to make sure we did things accurately. 

Roland: Not one person can be expected to get all the details—from props to set design to the writing—right so to have the entire production populated with Native crew members brings another layer of authenticity.