Dark Winds

AMC
One of the most impressive successes of 2024 in streaming comes from a place I would not have expected. That would be the performance of Dark Winds on Netflix, the AMC-made Native American murder mystery that has two seasons licensed to the service.

While AMC has had a number of licensed shows in and out of the top 10, namely its supernatural witches and vampire series, Dark Winds has now stayed inside the Netflix top 10 TV list for an entire month since it was added on August 19, along with those other shows. And not even particularly low on the list. After this period of time it’s still clocking in at #6, and it has been inside the top 5 for a majority of these weeks, in in the face of a bunch of other Netflix scripted and reality series.

It likely helps that word of mouth has spread about the 100%-rated series, where both seasons of the show have perfect scores. And if you’re looking for a season 3, well, there’s good news there. Season 3 of Dark Winds was already greenlit a year ago, but there are some caveats about that. While the gap between seasons 1 and 2 was extremely short, we will not Dark Winds until some time early in 2025, though we are fast approaching the new year. Here’s what was said about season 3 at the time:

“We started this journey with very high hopes for this series, given the remarkable source material and extraordinary creative team behind it, and it has delivered on every level,” said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. “From the beloved novels, to an incredibly collaborative producing team that includes Robert Redford, George R. R. Martin, showrunner John Wirth and star Zahn McClarnon, to the entire cast and crew, there is so much storytelling yet to come in this universe. Thanks to the fans for embracing this series and the critics for celebrating and shining a light on it.”
That was before the Netflix breakout success, and I have to believe it’s even more of a priority for AMC now. That’s the other catch, that Dark Winds will no doubt air on AMC first, before the season 3 is licensed to Netflix. It’s possible, like some AMC shows have, it could head to Netflix shortly after season 3 finishes. Or, it could be longer. Season 2 ended in July of 2023, and the gap to August 2024 is over a year. Though I do have my doubts that given its success, we’d have to wait a whole year to see it come to Netflix. Expect a season release date announcement shortly.