Dark Winds Season 4 Premieres February 2026 on AMC: New Faces, New Crimes, and Joe Leaphorn’s Darkest Hour Yet
- Rachel
- 1 minute ago
- 2 min read
The desert winds are blowing back in, and this time they are carrying a storm. AMC’s hit psychological crime drama Dark Winds is officially returning with Season 4 on Sunday, February 15, 2026 at 9 PM ET/PT, and fans better brace themselves. The network dropped a teaser alongside the announcement, giving us a gritty glimpse into the next mystery that will haunt Lt. Joe Leaphorn and company.
Season 4 will see Zahn McClarnon not only reprising his role as the stoic yet deeply tormented Leaphorn but also making his directorial debut. And from the looks of it, things are only getting darker in Navajo Nation. The upcoming season centers on the search for a missing Navajo girl, pulling Leaphorn, Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon), and Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten) from the safety of their desert home into the chaotic sprawl of 1970s Los Angeles. The case quickly morphs into a race against time to rescue the girl from an obsessive killer with ties to organized crime—because apparently, solving crimes in the middle of nowhere wasn’t intense enough.
The new season also welcomes a slate of heavy hitters, including Franka Potente (The Bridge), Isabel DeRoy-Olson (Three Pines), Chaske Spencer (The English), Luke Barnett (For All Mankind), and Titus Welliver (Bosch: Legacy)—and yes, we’re already picturing Welliver glaring across an interrogation table.
When we last saw Leaphorn, he was a man shattered. Season 3 ended on a gut punch, with his wife Emma leaving after
discovering his secret role in the death of B.J. Vines. The final moments showed Joe clinging to a recording of her deposition, replaying her bittersweet hope that “one day I can forgive him.” Heartbreaking, yes, but that emotional wreckage is exactly what makes Dark Winds such an addictive slow burn.
If the teaser is any indication, Season 4 will lean hard into its neo-noir roots—dust, danger, and a whole lot of moral ambiguity. Expect moody cinematography, tightly wound tension, and the kind of storytelling that crawls under your skin and refuses to leave.
With McClarnon stepping behind the camera and the show heading to the mean streets of LA, Dark Winds looks poised to evolve from a reservation mystery into a full-blown crime saga. February cannot come soon enough.
Dark Winds Season 4 premieres February 15, 2026 on AMC and AMC+. Watch the official teaser now and prepare for another haunting trip into the heart of the desert.