While Zahn McClarnon is not new to television, he’s never had a role as significant as his monumental turn in AMC’s Dark Winds. During its three seasons (thankfully which will be followed by a fourth), the series has seen McClarnon’s Joe Leaphorn go from a stoic lieutenant to a man succumbing to the weight of his past. It’s the result of a decades-long battle with various ghosts, one that reached heights off-screen with the death of Leaphorn’s son, JJ.
In the second season, his son’s memory was brought to life with the appearance of B.J Vines (John Diehl) who was discovered to be responsible for JJ’s death. In the finale, Leaphorn leaves Vines in the desert to succumb to the elements, a fate that may be more cruel than death. Many viewers might see that cruelty as justified, but it becomes the basis for Leaphorn’s continued self-torture. McClarnon’s face crackles with a deep seated anger in the final minutes of the season two finale, but in the opening of Season three, we see him now splayed upon the desert floor, anguished and desperate.
The anger he feels for how his life has recently unfolded is quickly masked by a deep rooted guilt that continues to chip away at the Leaphorn we’ve knowno. By leaving Vines in the desert, he was forced to become one of the people he has dedicated his life to putting behind bars. While his reasoning may have been more admirable than that of the criminals who lurk in the series’ shadows, Leaphorn’s belief in a black-and-white world has been shattered by his own actions.
McClarnon plays this anguish like no other actor could. It’s shielded by a no-nonsense air at work, especially with the case of two missing boys which opens up this season. Slowly, though, Leaphorn’s resolve begins to give way under the weight of his overwhelming guilt and grief, which manifests in the form of apparitions that haunt him everywhere he goes. McClarnon’s new version of Leaphorn is a man whose job has begun to hollow him out, slowly transforming him into a husk of the man he once was.
It’s a bold risk for Dark Winds to make, transforming their beloved protagonist so significantly until he feels like a man desperately struggling to mimic the man he thinks he’s supposed to be. In making these changes, the showrunners prove that they have the utmost faith in what McClarnon can achieve as the series’ lead. Rather than keeping him in a box, Dark Winds forces Leaphorn to change with it, giving McClarnon more width to showcase his prowess as one of the boldest performers in modern television.
McClarnon’s shattering performance reaches new heights in Episode 6, “Ábidoo’niidę́ę́” (“What We Had Been Told”), where Leaphorn is transported to a Lynchian dreamscape unlike anything Dark Winds has done before. As Leaphorn continues down a path of self destruction, he leaves in his wake the life he once knew and the man he once was. While the series has already established that Leaphorn’s grief has set him on a path where morality is something which is uncontested, this episode forces him—and the audience—to reckon with the childhood trauma that shaped his belief system.
While this episode’s subject matter is at times harrowing to reckon with, McClarnon’s magnetism makes it impossible to look away throughout each staggering revelation. As Leaphorn’s past is unearthed through a series of visions, the series brings its central theme of Indigenous people resisting their extinction, no matter how debilitating, to the forefront. Leaphorn’s reconciliation with the system he now exists in, one which has perhaps stifled his healing journey, takes form in each emotion that passes through McClarnon’s face.
As Leaphorn’s body is transformed under the weight of his impending reconciliation, his strong stance is broken down into a shattered version of the man he was in season one. When he crashes to the desert floor on his knees, skin melding with the harsh earth he previously stood on, McClarnon peels back Leaphorn’s reservation to reveal a desperate and child-like core. This arresting episode will be hailed as one of the best of the year, and with it comes a performance that should be hailed as one of the best of the 21st century.
Although the series is a feat in itself, the emotional weight of Dark Winds hinges on McClarnon’s staggering on-screen presence. With each season, the actor pushes himself more than the last, shedding all inhibitions as the camera comes face-to-face with an actor who has laid himself bare at the audience’s feet. It’s a shame that award bodies seem adamant to not recognize genre television, as McClarnon continues to push himself past the heights that any other actor currently on screen has reached.
In a just world, the popularity and critical acclaim of Dark Winds would be enough to garner it award consideration. But for now, with each episode, one can’t help but feel like they’re witnessing greatness when McClarnon is on screen. He wields Leaphorn’s grief like a shield, only lowering it when the series asks it of him, transforming the character from a typical noir detective into a tragic western hero. As Leaphorn’s life continues to shatter under the weight of his ghosts, McClarnon delivers a reckoning of a performance that shapes this series into the miracle that it is.
Kaiya Shunyata is a freelance pop culture writer and academic based in Toronto. They have written for Rogerebert.com, Xtra, The Daily Dot, and more. You can follow them on Twitter, where they gab about film, queer subtext, and television.
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