Joe Leapohorn and Jim Chee are back on the case this winter. Dark Winds, AMC‘s acclaimed 1970s-set noir drama, is returning for its fourth season on February 15, 2026. A new teaser gives viewers a taste of the new season, which will take our heroes from Navajo territory to the mean streets of Los Angeles. In the teaser, veteran officer Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) imparts his wisdom to his younger colleagues Chee (Kiowa Gordon) and Bernadette “Bernie” Manuelito (Jessica Matten) as they uncover a grisly murder scene.

A montage of shots from the season follows, including a brief glimpse of gas-mask-clad archvillain Irene Vaggan (Franka Potente, Run Lola Run). The new season will see the trio tracking Billie Tsosie (Isabel DeRoy-Olson, Fancy Dance), a missing Navajo teenager, to Los Angeles. There, they’ll encounter underworld recruiter Sonny (Chaske Spencer, Twilight), FBI Agent Toby Shaw (Luke Barnett, Faith Based), and crime boss Dominic McNair (Titus Welliver, Bosch). However, their path inevitably leads them to Vaggan, a merciless sociopath and survivalist who might be the deadliest foe they’ve faced yet.

What Happened in ‘Dark Winds’ Season 3?

The third season of Dark Winds, which aired earlier this year, sent Leaphorn and Chee into action as they investigated the mysterious disappearance of two boys, which appeared to be the work of the Ye’iitsoh, a legendary monster from Navajo folklore; after being attacked by the alleged creature, Leaphorn relived the traumas of his past in a surreal, nightmarish vision. However, the real culprit behind the disappearances was crooked archeologist Dr. Reynolds (Christopher Heyerdahl), whom Leaphorn and Chee tracked down in an exhilarating train chase.

Meanwhile, Bernie left the Navajo police to work for the US Border Patrol, but uncovered a sinister criminal conspiracy that almost left her buried alive. She returned and finally consummated her long-simmering romantic tension with Chee. Leaphorn’s personal life, however, took a dramatic downturn; after he revealed to his wife Emma (Deanna Allison) that he’d left B.J. Vines (John Diehl), the man responsible for their son’s death, to die in the desert, she left him.

Dark Winds is an adaptation of the late Tony Hillerman‘s crime novels; the fourth season is based on 1984’s The Ghostway. The series is executive produced by George R.R. Martin and the late Robert Redford; they cameoed as a pair of chess-playing prisoners in the third-season premiere.

Dark Winds‘ fourth season will premiere on Sunday, February 15, 2026, on AMC.

via Collider