Netflix’s original programming has been rather hit-or-miss lately, with new seasons arriving with big viewership drops and, sometimes, sliding scores. However, Netflix’s licensing arm is still grabbing great series, and one is back with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes scored season. Its fourth, in fact.
The show is Dark Winds, the indigenous murder mystery drama starring the enigmatic Zahn McClarnon. Netflix just added the fourth season of the show this week, five months after it premiered on AMC. Netflix already had the first three seasons of Dark Winds, and again, this is a show that has produced four 100%-Rotten Tomatoes-scored seasons in a row. That makes it one of the only shows to ever hit that metric for this many seasons, and certainly one of the only ones to do so on Netflix itself.
Dark Winds
Rotten Tomatoes
The series, set in the ‘70s, stars McClarnon as Joe Leaphorn of the Tribal Police as he solves various crimes around the Navajo Nation. After three seasons, here’s the plot of the fourth:
“The series’ gripping fourth season focuses on the search for a missing Navajo girl, which takes Leaphorn, Chee and Manuelito from the safety of Navajo Nation to the gritty terrain of 1970s Los Angeles in a race against the clock to save her from an obsessive killer with ties to organized crime.”
So, a big location switch for the series this time, moving to Los Angeles. The series continues to evolve, and that will not end anytime soon. Before season 4 premiered, Dark Winds was already renewed for season 5, and there does not appear to be an end in sight just yet.
Dark Winds is currently #8 on Netflix’s top 10 list, and new seasons of the show do tend to chart when they arrive. They do not go terribly high, but that does not matter as the renewal decision is not up to Netflix. And unlike most Netflix shows, Dark Winds manages to get a new season out almost every year, and we’ve had four seasons now in under four years, starting in mid-2022.
Zahn McClarnon is no stranger to Netflix originals, however, voicing Orlox in the animated series Castlevania: Nocturne. That show has a 98% Rotten Tomatoes score, incidentally. He was also in the excellent Reservation Dogs (99% on Rotten Tomatoes), and the man cannot stop attaching himself to stellar projects, though Dark Winds is the one he gets to lead.
Check out all four seasons of Dark Winds now on Netflix, or catch up with season 4 now that it’s arrived on the service.
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