THIS IS JESSICA MATTEN’S TIME. And it’s Bernadette Manuelito’s time too. Matten has played the tough but tender Manuelito through three seasons of AMC’s 1970s-set Dark Winds, based on the bestselling novels of author Tony Hillerman, and owes at least part of her blossoming career in film and television to her role.
After Manuelito embarked on a career change with the Border Patrol at the end of last season, some speculated that the tribal police officer may not return. But as season 3 premieres on Sunday, March 9, her knowledge and expertise are needed once again when she stumbles across a far-reaching human- and drug-smuggling operation.
The expanded eight-episode season picks up six months after the previous events as Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) and Officer Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) investigate the disappearance of two boys with only an abandoned bike and the bloodstained ground as clues. Joined by guest stars Jenna Elfman (Dharma & Greg) and Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek, Thirteen Days), the officers track shadows from the past.
In addition to her role on Dark Winds, Matten (Red River Métis and Cree) recently starred in Netflix’s Rez Ball, which was shot throughout New Mexico. Gallup-born director Sydney Freeland’s story followed the fictional Chuska Warriors, a Native American high school basketball team seeking a New Mexico state championship after the death of their star player. Matten is also a co-founder of the Counting Coup Indigenous Film Academy, which provides paid training for aspiring filmmakers, and the president of 7 Forward Entertainment, an Indigenous-owned production company based in Canada.
She spoke with New Mexico Magazine about the experience of working on Dark Winds in advance of the season 3 premiere.
After Manuelito joined the Border Patrol, speculation arose about her return. But in Season 3, her expertise is crucial when she uncovers a major human- and drug-smuggling operation. Photograph courtesy of AMC Networks.
New Mexico Magazine: Working on Dark Winds over several seasons, as well as Rez Ball, has given you plenty of opportunities to work with New Mexico crews. Over time, you must have built some strong working relationships—can you tell us about those?
Jessica Matten: It’s really nice to come to New Mexico and have that sense already of a built-in family with the local crew and local IATSE [International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees] workers. Honestly, I love it. It gives me a sense of stability, too, while I’m working.
NMM: Engaging with many of the same actors year after year, too, have you developed strong relationships off camera?
JM: Zahn and Kiowa, we’ve known each other for about a decade now. We had previously worked together on another show called Frontier with Jason Momoa. Jason brought Zahn and Kiowa on to guest star, and that’s how I originally met them. Indian Country is cool in that way. We all just stay in touch. Kiowa became like a real brother to me. We both lived in California during that time and developed a sibling-like friendship. So to be able to bring that to the set of Dark Winds, it really did feel like a family reunion. You’re spending 12- to 14-hour days with the same people, day in, day out, for four months straight. Spending all this time together for the last three seasons has really just made us closer, more bonded.
NMM: There’s a toughness to Bernadette that makes her as formidable an officer as her male colleagues, Leaphorn and Chee.
JM: There’s another female officer played by Natalie Benally, who’s of Navajo descent. She plays Natalie Bluehouse. But I’m the only one you see beating people up.
NMM: I’m wondering about the subtext. Does the character think about herself in these terms, as in, I’m a woman in a world of men, and I have to prove myself?
JM: I live it in my personal life every single day. I bring my own personal frustrations to Bernadette. In order to get things done in my personal life I’ve had to be assertive, confident, courageous, and bold. Bernadette’s not a far stretch from who I am in real life. I’m a sweeter, kinder version of that, but I’ve been told that people have been afraid to meet me. Then they meet me and are like, “You’re like way nicer than I expected.” As an actor, you have to tap into your own humility and those hardships that you experienced in life in order to understand a character a lot more.
NMM: Although it’s set in the 1970s, Dark Winds integrates a lot of the social ills affecting Indigenous cultures—missing and murdered Indigenous women as well as racism and sexism, which underscores the persistence of those problems. It resonates.
JM: It’s one of the very real issues that we have across the board in North America with our people. That is a direct result of the residential and boarding schools and the stripping of our culture, people, and language, and the sexual abuse that occurred at these Catholic churches where children were taken. We’re still healing from that. It’s our grandparents who went through that and experienced that horror. I hope that through cinema and television and a show like Dark Winds that we continue to show that—so that we can reflect on our own humility and compassion and create understanding with Native and non-Native people alike. It’s a deeply rooted problem within our communities.
NMM: I know there are going to be some challenges ahead under the current administration, which is not so big on the arts, but is Native cinema on track to keep expanding?
JM: That’s a really good question. I’ve been watching the news as well, and it’s scary. I think Dark Winds will continue to bypass all that, because we are not just a niche for Natives to watch, but there is a huge interest globally in Indigenous storytelling through Dark Winds. I was actually spending the weekend at the Seminole reservation in Florida with Wes Studi. We were on this Q&A panel, and one of the women in the audience stood up and said, “I remember, over 15 years ago, Wes was the first to break out, and it’s so incredible to see the next generation. Wes, we want to honor you right now. You helped to start this.” So we all stood up and honored Wes Studi on the spot. It’s always so important to acknowledge who opened the doors for us.
Despite all of the political things that are happening, we’re going to, as we say, Matrix-dodge this bullet and carry on.
Dark Winds Season 3 Premiere
Sunday, March 9, 7 p.m.; amc.com