Robert Redford's Final Gift To The Western Genre, Dark Winds, Is A Work Of Genius

Robert Redford is a Western legend, but his final gift to the genre, the mystery series Dark Winds, deserves the distinction of being called one of his best projects. Robert Redford passed away in September 2025, but his legacy will live on long after him. He leaves behind some of the best Westerns ever made, along with a truly remarkable body of work in every genre.

Redford retired from acting in 2018, but he continued to work in Hollywood as an executive producer. During that time, he produced quite a few great shows and movies, like Public Trust and All Illusions Must Be Broken. The crowning achievement of Redford's career as a producer, and one of his greatest contributions to the Western genre, however, is Dark Winds.

The Robert Redford-Produced Dark Winds Is An Amazing Western Crime Thriller

Robert Redford and George R.R. Martin, the author of the Game of Thrones series, both executive produced AMC's crime thriller Dark Winds. The series follows Joe Leaphorn, Jim Chee, and Bernadette Manuelito, three police officers working in the Navajo Nation in the 1970s. They solve crimes and battle supernatural forces that are taken from Navajo folklore, and it's a stellar show.

As proof of its quality, Dark Winds has a perfect 100% score across four seasons on Rotten Tomatoes. That's an exceedingly rare achievement for any show. Its reviews aren't barely positive, either; Screen Rant's review of Dark Winds season 4 gave it an 8/10, while many other reviewers also gave it high marks. Audiences also generally agree: Dark Winds has 78% approval among viewers.

Dark Winds also has many highlights. The show is expertly made, and each episode feels like a visual masterpiece. The stunning landscape of the Navajo Nation certainly helps in that regard. Dark Winds also has some severely underrated acting performances from top-tier actors like Zahn McClarnon and Kiowa Gordon. To cap it all off, each season of Dark Winds presents a new mystery filled to the brim with twists, turns, and genuine shocks that make it one of the best mystery shows on the air.

Robert Redford Has A History With Adapting Tony Hillerman Novels

Dark Winds is based on the "Leaphorn and Chee" novels by Tony Hillerman, but the show is far from a recent development. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Redford got the screen rights to Hillerman's novels shortly after reading them in 1988. He then spent the next three years struggling to fund the movie that would eventually become 1991's The Dark Wind, starring Lou Diamond Phillips, which Redford worked as an executive producer on.

After The Dark Wind, Redford continued adapting Hillerman's novels. He helped create three telefilms for PBS, Skinwalkers, Coyote Waits, and A Thief of Time, from 2002 to 2004. Redford himself was disappointed with those adaptations, however, as he said that they were limited by their small budgets. In 2002, he said that "Getting an all-Native American cast financed above a certain budget was just really hard to do."

Redford was right, too. Even as one of the most famous actors in Hollywood with the help of George R.R. Martin, the author of the Game of Thrones series, Redford couldn't get HBO to produce Dark Winds in 2015. Then, it took another six years for AMC to finally order Dark Winds and for Redford's 33-year-long plan made into a reality. Redford fought tooth and nail for Dark Winds, and his passion for Hillerman's writing oozes through every scene.

Dark Winds Also Marked Robert Redford's Final Onscreen Role

As previously mentioned, Robert Redford retired from acting in 2018. His final role as an actor, however, was in Dark Winds season 3, just months before his death. Redford made a cameo in Dark Winds as a detainee at the Kayenta Navajo Tribal Police station, where much of the show takes place. His character played chess with fellow executive producer George R.R. Martin in the scene.

While it wasn't the meatiest role, Dark Winds does have the unique distinction of being Robert Redford's last acting performance. His willingness to step in front of the camera once again, for the first time since Avengers: Endgame, speaks to how highly he thought of the series.

Robert Redford Leaves Behind A Huge Legacy For The Western Genre

Dark Winds is great and one of Robert Redford's crowning achievements, but it's just one piece of his massive legacy on the Western genre. Redford only starred in five Westerns, but all of them are iconic in their own way. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is often cited as one of the best Westerns ever made, and it's my favorite film by a landslide. Others, like Jeremiah Johnson, The Electric Horseman, Tell Them Willie Boy is Here, and The Horse Whisperer, all left their marks on the genre.

Redford's Western characters are simply iconic. There's no telling how much of an effect he's had as an inspiration to other actors, directors, producers, and even viewers like us. Anyone who enjoys Westerns knows Robert Redford. He's as much a symbol of the genre as Clint Eastwood or Sergio Leone, and he managed to become an icon with just five films.

Dark Winds perfectly accentuates that legacy. It's still one of the only stories told by and about Native American people. By producing this show, Redford has opened the door for countless Native American actors, writers, directors, and more to get into Hollywood, an industry Redford himself admitted was stacked against them. Dark Winds was the perfect way to cap off Robert Redford's legendary career in the Western genre.