Posted in: AMC, HBO, TV | Tagged: Dark Winds, george r r martin, Navajo, robert redford, Tony Hillerman

Dark Winds: How Robert Redford & GRRM Got AMC to Invest in TV Series

It's a story itself that's born out of struggle, tragedy, and hope to adapt Tony Hillerman's Navajo crime thriller series following the adventures of Dets Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee to the screen. With AMC's recent announcement to adapt the late author's work to television in Dark Winds is largely thanks to two giants in the entertainment industry in screen legend Robert Redford and writer George R. R. Martin, the mind behind A Song of Fire and Ice novels that inspired the HBO TV series Game of Thrones. The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd, who also wrote the behind-the-scenes book "Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon" that followed the long-running fantasy series through its controversial eighth and final season, chronicled the duo's journey to get the network to commit.

Dark Winds Early Struggles

Hillerman wrote 18 Leaphorn and Chee novels starting with "The Blessing Way" in 1970. Martin met the author, who hosted a monthly luncheon at the Albuquerque Press Club for writers in 1979 when he moved to New Mexico. Both became friends and Martin became of fan of Hillerman's series. In 1988, Redford also discovered the works and secured the rights with the intention of making a series of Leaphorn and Chee films. Unfortunately, even for someone with as much history and clout one would assume Redford has in Hollywood, he struggled to find a major studio to take a chance telling the Los Angeles Times in 2002, "Getting an all-Native American cast financed above a certain budget was just really hard to do."

Redford was able to get The Dark Wind made in 1991 that starred Lou Diamond Phillips, which was panned and went straight to home video. There were three better-received telefilms as PBS' American Mystery! Specials with Skinwalkers (2002), Coyote Waits (2003), and A Thief of Time (2004). Chris Eyre, who caught Redford's eye with his film Smoke Signals at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, directed two of the films. He, Redford, and Martin met in 2015, which coincidentally happened as the three lived in Santa Fe at the time to discuss their love of Hillerman's work, who sadly passed in 2008.

For more on how Dark Winds from Native American representation and how the project changed hands from HBO to AMC, you can check it out on THR.

Bleeding Cool TV on Instagram: For all of the stuff too random and bizarre to make the site, make sure to follow us on Instagram (with an official launch on June 19): Bleeding Cool TV (@bleedingcooltv).

BCTV Daily Dispatch: For a look at what's going on across the television and streaming landscape, sign up for Bleeding Cool's daily email round-up of the news you need to know here.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!