Jenna Elfman says her ‘Dark Winds’ character is ‘kind of a monster’: ‘She’s just dripping with white entitlement’
Jenna Elfman battled monsters in the form of zombies on Fear the Walking Dead. In her latest role, the actress is taking on a different kind of monster and possibly playing one herself.
Elfman is guest-starring in Season 3 of Dark Winds, which sees a 1970s Navajo Tribal Police force investigating the disappearance of two boys on a reservation where mystery often mixes with violent crime. The AMC series, which is based on books by the late Tony Hillerman, stars Indigenous actors Zahn McClarnon, Jessica Matten and Kiowa Gordon. Season 3 premieres March 9, and the series was recently renewed for Season 4.
The actress plays FBI Special Agent Sylvia Washington, who visits the reservation to investigate a missing person who played a pivotal role in Season 2. Her character arrives with “something to prove,” and she clashes with Lt. Joe Leaphorn (McClarnon).
While the monsters on Fear the Walking Dead “are on the outside,” Elfman told Yahoo Entertainment, “the monsters are on the inside” on Dark Winds.
“I think it’s the inner monster of one’s conscience and one’s wrestling with justice, and what does it mean and how justice looks different to different cultures and to different people,” she said.
“But also how they manifest on the outside because I’m kind of a monster to [Leaphorn],” Elfman explained. “She’s just dripping with white entitlement and absolute social blindness. … And I mean, she’s on the rez. This is their land. From his point of view, she’s a guest. From her point of view, she’s just right at home.”
The two characters have a tug-of-war relationship on the job. Elfman said she appreciated that she and McClarnon, who she called “kind and present,” had “a very different energy to each other.”
“Zahn and his character [are] very calm, and my character and [I are] more kinetic,” she explained. “I liked how those … two energy wavelengths really played in the scenes of someone who’s got something to prove and someone who’s got something to hide.”
The longtime actress also said she felt honored to be working with an Indigenous cast and crew on Native land.
“They were always honoring the land. They were always reminding everyone [of] the land that we were on. And so there was always a very spiritual aspect to the time and place and space that we were in while making the show,” she said. “I felt just honored. I literally couldn’t stop saying how honored I felt.”
Elfman is enjoying her character’s evolution on the show, especially “that collision of energy and the secrets [Leaphorn] has as his character and the drive [of] my character.” She added, “In 1972, that was when the first two female FBI agents came out of the school,” which explains why her character has so much to prove.
The actress also praised the “nuanced” writing on the show, which “supported a nuanced performance.”
“It supported layers,” she said. “What that did to me, having the privilege of that kind of writing, was just such a treat.”
Dark Winds Season 3 premieres March 9 on AMC and AMC+.
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The actress guest-stars as an FBI special agent who makes herself “right at home” on the Navajo reservation.
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