Dark Winds Cast & Character Guide: Where Else To See The Stars Of The AMC Thriller

The crime drama Dark Winds returned for its second season on AMC and the Dark Winds season 2 cast brought back the main players alongside some interesting additions for the new season. Based on the Leaphorn & Chee mystery novel series by best-selling author Tony Hillerman. Dark Winds follows Navajo police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee as they investigate crimes in New Mexico in the 1970s. The Dark Winds cast includes Zahn McClarnon as Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Kiowa Gordon as Detective Jim Chee, who both return for new adventures with some new cast members.

The Dark Winds season 2 cast adds some familiar faces to the lineup for the new season including Rainn Wilson and Noah Emmerich, and more original cast members return. Season 2 of Dark Winds saw McClarnon's Leaphorn and Gordon's Chee investigate a mysterious murder, all while dealing with Leaphorn learning that he had a serious medical condition that might impede his future as a law enforcement officer. The second season also continues to show the sociopolitical issues facing Native communities in the 1970s, something important to Hillerman's novels, and it built a Dark Winds cast to really delve into those issues respectfully.

Related: Dark Winds Season 3: Cast, Plot & Everything We Know

Zahn McClarnon as Joe Leaphorn

Zahn McClarnon plays Joe Leaphorn in the Dark Winds cast. Leaphorn is a veteran Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant who is the lead character in the Dark Winds cast. In the first season, he was nearing retirement age but was brought into a partnership with the young Jim Chee, although Leophorn is more of a traditional Navajo detective and Chee was trained with forensic and more scientific investigative techniques. In the second season, Leaphorn and Chee are still partners, but Leaphorn has developed an unknown medical condition, possibly cancer, that affects his outlook.

Dark Wins cast member Zahn McClarnon is from Denver and got his start studying acting in school. He appeared in a few smaller movies and TV shows before he enjoyed his breakout role in 2012 as Mathias, Chief of the Indian Tribal Police of the Cheyenne reservation, in Longmire. He also had major roles in Fargo season 2, the TV series Timeless, and as the leader of Ghost Nation in Westworld. He also had roles in movies like No Hard Feelings, The Forever Purge, and Doctor Sleep​​​​​.

Kiowa Gordon as Jim Chee

Kiowa Gordon's Dark Winds character is Jim Chee. Unlike Leaphorn, who is older and set in the traditional ways of the Navajo Nation, Chee is younger and was recruited out of law school by the FBI to aid in investigations. He uses modern forensic methods that often clash with traditional Navajo views. However, when Leaphorn realizes that old-school investigating won't help in a case in the first season, he turns to Chee for help using his more modern investigating style. The two remain partners heading into Dark Winds season 2, with Chee learning as much from Leophorn as the older officer learns from him.

Gordon is a Native American actor of Hualapai heritage who was born in Germany where his dad was employed. He got his big break in one of the most successful young adult franchises in history when he played shapeshifter Embry Call in The Twilight Saga: New Moon. He returned to that role in the next two movies and has since appeared as a main cast member in The Red Road and in a recurring role in Roswell, New Mexico.

Jessica Matten as Bernadette Manuelito

Jessica Matten joins the Dark Winds cast as Bernadette Manuelito. Bernadette is a young Navajo police officer in the Dark Winds cast. In the first season of the show, she was eager to prove herself and wanted to help the Navajo community while also feeling like an outsider as one of the few female officers. Growing up as an orphan, she provides a nice contrast to Chee's more analytical approach and is a key part of the police trio on the show. However, in the second season, Bernadette faces challenges when her dark past begins to resurface.

Playing Bernadette is Jessica Matten, a Canadian actor with both Red River Métis and Saulteaux-Cree heritage through her mother. Her first major role came in 1014 when she picked up a role in the Canadian TV series Blackstone, which follows Indigenous people living in a fictional First Nations reserve in Alberta. She has continued to have solid roles in TV shows since then, including Frontier, Burden of Truth, Tribal, and finally the Dark Winds cast.

Rainn Wilson as Dan "Devoted Dan" DeMarco

Rainn Wilson's Dark Winds character is Dan "Devoted Dan" DeMarco. Dan is a missionary and used car salesman who has started to recruit followers into a cult-like organization. However, when a dead body is discovered on his compound, it brings Leaphorn into direct conflict with him and his followers. Wilson is one of the more recognizable faces in the Dark Winds cast. Born in Seattle, Wilson studied drama in school and got his start in theater productions. His first major role was in the Rob Zombie horror movie House of 1000 Corpses.

While House of 1000 Corpses was his first major role, Rainn Wilson's true breakout prior to joining the case of Dark Winds came playing Dwight Schrute in the U.S. remake of The Office, a role that remains one of the fan favorites of the series. He has since taken on roles in several major movies, including Juno, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Meg, Brightburn, and the 2022 movie Weird: The Al Yankovic Story​​​​​.

Jeremiah Bitsui as Hoski

Jeremiah Bitsui's Dark Winds character is Hoski. Also known as James Tso, Hoski is a Navajo priest who is the leader of the extremist Buffalo Society, a group that uses murder and robbery to achieve its goals. He posed as his twin brother to help him commit crimes in one persona and work as the priest in the other. However, his end came in season 1 when he died by suicide when he realized he couldn't live with his actions.

Bitsu is an actor of Navajo and Omaha descent who started acting when he was five. He appeared in Natural Born Killers when he was 14, but his next major roles didn't come until a decade later. On the big screen, he has appeared in Lords of Dogtown, Flags of our Fathers, Brothers, and After the Fall. He has more roles on the small screen, including playing Victor in Breaking Bad. He also appeared in Bosch, Yellowstone, Better Call Saul, and Longmire.

Related: Dark Winds Season 2 Ending Explained: Did Joe Leaphorn Kill [SPOILER]?

Noah Emmerich as Leland Whitover

Noah Emmerich joins the Dark Winds cast as Leland Whitover. Leland was a character in the first season of Dark Winds, an FBI agent who investigates a case involving the Navajo Reservation. Jim Chee worked under Leland at the time that they arrived, although Chee was undercover. However, behind the scenes, Leland was actually a crooked agent, working with the Buffalo Society and Hoski. His life came to an end in season 1 when he spoke ill of a deceased girl and her father killed him for it.

Emmerich is a veteran Hollywood actor from New York City with an extensive career prior to featuring in Dark Winds season 1. He got his start in theater productions before he got his first starring role in Beautiful Girls. He then appeared in movies like The Truman Show, Frequency, Super 8, and The Good Nurse. On TV, he has starred in Suspicion, The Walking Dead, White Collar, and The Americans, where he played Stan Beeman.

Nicholas Logan as Colton Wolf

Nicholas Logan plays Colton Wolf in the Dark Winds cast. Wolf was a major antagonist in the Dark Winds season 2 cast. After a bombing, Leaphorn was hot on the trail of Wolf, who was responsible, and then learned the horrific news that Wolf was the man who killed Leaphorn's son so many years ago - and then he learned who hired Wolf to do so. However, Wolf didn't make it out of season 2 alive, as his benefactor killed him before Leaphorn could make the connection.

Logan has been acting since 2009, taking on small roles in shows like Medium, Outsourced, and $#!t My Dad Says. He got his first recurring role in the series Hap and Leonard in 2018 and also had appearances in NCIS: New Orleans, Queen of teh South, and Watchmen on HBO. In movies, he has appeared in I Care a Lot, Samaritan, and Organ Trail.

Jeri Ryan as Rosemary Vines

Jeri Ryan's Dark Winds character is Rosemary Vines. Rosemary is the wife of B.J. Vines, the man responsible for several deaths, including that of Leaphorn's son. In the second season, Rosemary hires Chee to recover a box that her husband stole from her. However, this box contained evidence that B.J. had something to do with Leaphorn's son's death. In the end, Rosemary drove off and seemed to leave town for good.

Jeri Ryan is a very famous face in the Dark Winds cast. She is an American actor born in Germany who got her start in the Miss America pageant. However, most of the world knows her as the former Borg drone Seven of Nine in Star Trek: Voyager, a role she returned to in Star Trek: Picard. She picked up four Saturn Award nominations for that role. She also appeared in the movies Dracula 2000 and Disney's The Kid and TV shows MacGyver, Boach, and Body of Proof.

Deanna Allison as Emma Leaphorn

Deanna Allison joins the Dark Winds cast as Emma Leaphorn. Emma is Leaphorn's wife. The couple lives on the reservation and both previously mourned the death of their son in what they thought was an accidental explosion. That death came back to haunt them in the second season of the show when Leaphorn realized it wasn't accidental at all. She is also there for Joe when he learns about his serious illness and comforts him as he deals with the setback. Allison has very few credits in movies or TV shows, although she appeared in one episode of Accused and worked as an animation intern for DCAU movies.

Elva Guerra as Sally Growing Thunder

Elva Guerra plays Sally Growing Thunder in the Dark Winds cast. Sally was a pregnant teenager on Dark Winds who was taken in by Leaphorn and his wife Emma while she carried her baby. She was running from an abusive relationship and found protection and a loving family with Leaphorn and Emma. However, at the end of the second season, she left a note and left with her child to raise her independently and left town. Before her role in Dark Winds, Guerra played Jackie in Reservation Dogs.

Eugene Brave Rock as Frank Nakai

Eugene Brave Rock plays Frank Nakai in the Dark Winds cast. Frank is a Vietnam veteran and a member of an extremist group called the Buffalo Society. He started off as muscle for Hoski in season 1 before playing a role in the murder mystery from season 2. Eugene Brave Rock is a Canadian actor who got his start working on stunts and performing in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show at Disneyland Paris. He had small roles before he started working as a stunt trainer for the Oscar-winning The Revenant. His biggest on-screen role prior to joining the cast of Dark Winds came in the DCU movie Wonder Woman, where he played Chief.