Sandra Hale Schulman
Special to ICT
Monsters lurk inside and out in the awaited return of “Dark Winds” Season 3, starring Zahn McClarnon (“Reservation Dogs,” “Longmire,” “Fargo”), Kiowa Gordon (“The Red Road,” “Roswell,” “New Mexico”), Jessica Matten (“Rez Ball,” “Tribal,” “Burden of Truth”) and Deanna Allison (“Accused,” “Edge of America”).
At the end of Season 2, family dramas seemed to have been resolved for Navajo Police Lt. Joe Leaphorn (McClarnon), while Officer Jim Chee (Gordon) sees his love, Bernadette Manuelito (Matten), leave the Navajo Police for a job at the border patrol after sharing a passionate kiss.
Will Manuelito return or find a new life – and challenges – away from them all?
Without giving away too much, Matten, Metis tribe, has a very strong role and storyline in the new season. How does she feel about deepening this character both in the professional roles on the show and in a personal life?
“It’s been just an honor to be a part of the show and true to the journey of the Hillerman books,” Matten told ICT by video conferencing from her new home base in New York City. “After Tony Hillerman passed and his daughter Anne Hillerman started writing and continuing on the books, she also started to extend Bernadette’s character. It’s been a joy getting to play Bernadette and seeing that play out on screen.
“Bernadette’s character in this season, it’s all about her taking the Border Patrol position, she’s completely in a separate world from Leaphorn and his world in a lot of ways. But there’s a lot of parallels internally, what they’re going through, interestingly enough.
“I’m grateful to the fan base that has followed us on the journey of Season 1 and 2. I hope that they like Season 3 as much as they’ve enjoyed the last two seasons and that they continue on this journey with us. I hope it becomes something later on in life that they remember as being a part of that time period of their own lives. Just like the other long running project I’m working on, it really resonates with them, and they can reflect back in that moment in time and they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s when that show was on, it was my comfort show to watch.’”
In her new world she has challenges from all directions, forcing her to take a stand personally and professionally. Will Chee cruise to the border to help her out? You’ll have to watch and see.
It’s just been announced that “Dark Winds” will return for a fourth season. Beyond that, Matten is busy with films.
“Right now, I’m still in the midst of shooting a feature film for Paramount Studios called ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender.’ That’s starring Dave Bautista and Eric Nam. There is a female producer and director team. It’s so awesome being in the studio with them for the last year and a half. I know how much that means to a lot of people in the world who’ve grown up watching that show. I hope that the fans like what I do with the character and that I’m able to serve justice, that they just enjoy the art we help to put out in the world.
“Outside of that, I’m still producing and running my Indigenous Film Academy and we’re producing short films for them right now on the rez. AMC has generously helped to partner up with us on that and help us with some of the financing. AMC is an entire network full of down to earth, hardworking, amazing people. I just feel really fortunate that this is the studio that we’re working with and that we get to collaborate with.”
What kind of short films interest Matten?
“In short films right now, we’re talking about the trials and triumphs that happen on the rez, but with humor. I produced a documentary two years ago that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival called ‘Boil Alert,’ that was spotlighting and highlighting all the Indigenous reservations across Canada and the states that are on boil alert for the lack of clean drinking water and really getting insight and delving into what those communities are dealing with on a regular basis. It’s third world conditions in our backyard. All due respect to people that feel the need to go overseas to aid there, but we have our own backyard to fix as I’ve been saying for decades. So being able to produce content that sheds more of a spotlight on that, I hope increases more awareness and compassion and support for the communities.
“Also, what it does is it acts as a sense of purpose, an employment opportunity for people coming off the reserve who may not in fact have those opportunities elsewhere. My biggest joy in life is to be able to help push them forward in that regard.”
Matten’s striking good looks and height – she’s 5’10” – have led her to become a fashion icon. She graces the cover of Cowboys & Indians magazine this month and has walked the runway for several designers at the SWAIA Fashion shows.
“I actually would rather not,” she says laughing. “I like the acting and the producing, but what I do love is the people behind the fashion. I love the creators, the designers. And for that alone, it’s been a complete honor to be a part of it. I still, to this day, get really nervous walking the catwalk, so I would rather not for that reason alone, but I appreciate it. Hey, I’m five foot 10. I get it. They’re like, ‘Hey, tall girl, come here. Put on the clothes, walk down that runway.’
“If it gives me the opportunity to continue to collaborate with the Indigenous community at large, at the end of the day, I’m all down for it. For the ‘Dark Winds’ cover shoot for Cowboys & Indians, I actually helped to produce and style that entire shoot. I’m the one that brought all the designers in to make sure that they got features as well. I’m just grateful to be a part of the fashion world in that respect.
“My science degree is actually in clothing textile science. Before my acting days, I worked at a UK Magazine and my dream was to work in high fashion. I have deep gratitude and deep respect and having studied a lot of art history courses in architecture, even sound theory, I completely understand how a lot of designers draw inspiration and do a lot of incredible research of certain time periods and eras and how they mesh and now they blend that into the fabrics alone. Even the material that they choose can also reflect something that they’re paying respect to.
“My profound respect for fashion is almost completely separate from me not wanting to walk on a runway. I’m grateful for this life for sure. I’m grateful to do ‘Dark Winds’ four months out of the year. We shoot the film out of Santa Fe. I like to travel quite a bit, quite the gypsy, or as they say, following wherever the buffalo roams. It’s just a lifestyle choice. I’m excited to go back to Santa Fe, and also explore New York, my new home. There’s a big Indigenous population in New York. There’s some great museums and a lot of things going on, there’s this really cool built-in community.”
The “Dark Winds” Season 3 premier airs on AMC and AMC+ on Sunday, March 9, with new episodes airing weekly on Sundays.
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