Hillerman-based TV series Dark Winds in production in Santa Fe
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Aug. 31—The six-episode new television show Dark Winds, based on the novels by New Mexico author Tony Hillerman, is in production at an unspecified location in Santa Fe.
The New Mexico Film Office on Tuesday reported the shoot started in late August and will continue through November. Dark Winds will also have location shoots in Española, Cochiti and Tesuque pueblos and the Navajo Nation.
The show is set to air on AMC and AMC+ in 2022. It is produced by AMC Networks and Dark Winds Productions LLC.
Dark Winds is a psychological thriller based on the Leaphorn and Chee Navajo tribal police mystery novels by Hillerman, an Oklahoma native who lived in Santa Fe in the 1950s and 1960s and served for a time as editor of The New Mexican before living the rest of his life in Albuquerque.
Santa Fe resident George R.R. Martin is an executive producer, as is Robert Redford.
Chris Eyre, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, is the show's director and executive producer. He also directed Smoke Signals, Skins, Skinwalkers, Edge of America and Hide Away.
The series stars Zahn McClarnon (The Son, Westworld, Fargo), who also is an executive producer, plus Noah Emmerich (The Americans, The Spy) and Kiowa Gordon (The Red Road and Roswell, New Mexico).
The series follows two Navajo police officers investigating a double murder.
The production will employ about 200 New Mexico crew members and more than 275 New Mexico background players and extras, the Film Office reported.
"We are ecstatic that AMC is being so intentional about telling this story in an authentic way by creative talent whose work speaks for itself, with a Native American director from New Mexico, as well as Native American writers, actors and locations," New Mexico Film Office Director Amber Dodson said in a news release.
The Film Office reports a second unnamed film project is in production in Santa Fe through early September.
The ViacomCBS production is employing about 150 New Mexico crew members and five New Mexico principal cast members.
"This is a very exciting and iconic production being shot in New Mexico and we cannot wait to see the outcome and share more about it soon," Dodson said in a news release.
Neither production company responded to emails from The New Mexican.
