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Netflix practically invented binge-watching. Before the streamer took over the world, watching TV was a slow experience, where the audience would wait for a new episode every week and spend months following a storyline. Netflix obviously turned that format on its head by dropping entire seasons at once and completely changing how people consume TV.

The only problem, though, is the platform’s endless catalog that makes it hard to know what is actually worth committing to. Some shows are fun for a few episodes, but only a handful are worth a full-blown marathon. This is a list of the most exciting Netflix shows that are simply impossible to quit.

10

‘A Man on the Inside’ (2024–Present)

Image via Netflix

A Man on the Inside is a warm comfort watch starring the brilliant Ted Danson as Charles Nieuwendyk, a retired engineering professor and widower whose life has become rather lonely and quiet after he loses his wife. However, things take a turn when Charles stumbles upon an unusual job listing for a private investigator and ends up working for Julie Kovalenko (Lilah Richcreek Estrada). His mission is to infiltrate the Pacific View Retirement Community in San Francisco to solve a missing necklace case. Right off the bat, the show presents an extremely likable character and a cozy mystery that only gets better with time.

The best part of the show is that it doesn’t rely solely on the case to keep the audience hooked. In fact, the mystery is actually fairly easy to guess halfway through because it’s never meant to land as a twist. The real hook is watching Charles slowly find purpose in a retirement home of all places. A Man on the Inside presents an interesting perspective on aging without turning its characters into stereotypes. The show never punches down and feels extremely sincere, especially in its more complex storylines involving dementia and memory care. All of this makes A Man on the Inside an easy binge with breezy pacing, a stacked cast, and a heartwarming story at the center.

9

‘Never Have I Ever’ (2020–2023)

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There’s no denying that Netflix is almost oversaturated with teen dramas, but Never Have I Ever is definitely in a league of its own. The show, created by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher, can be written off as yet another coming-of-age comedy, but beneath that is a story about grief, identity, and the messy parts of growing up. The story follows Indian-American teenager Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), who is dealing with the sudden death of her father. She then sets out on a mission to reinvent her social life as a coping mechanism, which leads to a complicated yet wildly entertaining love triangle involving the popular high-school jock Paxton Hall-Yoshida (Darren Barnet) and Devi’s academic rival, Ben Gross (Jaren Lewison).

What makes Never Have I Ever such a fun watch is how the show embraces the chaos in Devi’s life. She is never presented as the perfect female lead. Instead, she is dramatic, selfish, and stubborn, but that’s exactly why she feels so real. The show’s decision to use tennis legend John McEnroe as the narrator is one of the most creative comedic choices Netflix has ever made and only reinforces Devi’s spunky personality. However, the show’s depth isn’t just limited to Devi. The supporting cast, including her best friends Eleanor (Ramona Young) and Fabiola (Lee Rodriguez), gets its own well-developed arcs, and no character in the show ever feels one-dimensional. All of this is rare for a teen TV series and makes Never Have I Ever a relatable watch for viewers of all ages. Sure, the show features its fair share of clichés, but even that becomes part of its odd charm.

8

‘Beef’ (2023–Present)

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Beef is one of Netflix’s most unique shows, and that alone makes it binge-worthy. The series, created by Lee Sung Jin and produced by A24, takes a seemingly simple premise and turns it into a psychological spiral like no other. The story follows Danny Cho (Steven Yeun), a struggling Korean-American contractor drowning in debt, and Amy Lau (Ali Wong), a successful Chinese-Vietnamese American entrepreneur whose life only looks perfect from the outside. The two get into an ugly road rage incident and find themselves in an obsessive feud that grows more destructive with every episode. It’s almost like revenge starts consuming these two, and they are willing to do anything it takes to come out on top. Beef’s pacing is what makes the show so addictive.

The episodes are only around 30 minutes, but their emotional intensity leaves the audience on the edge of their seats. The characters’ thirst for revenge becomes a window into their deepest insecurities and the anger they have been repressing for years. The show has also garnered a reputation for its accurate portrayal of Asian Americans and the pressure of immigrant expectations. Of course, none of this would land without Yeun and Wong’s incredibly layered performances and their destructive chemistry. Beef is dark, funny, thrilling, and unpredictable. It’s the kind of show that practically demands to be binge-watched.

7

‘Black Mirror’ (2011–Present)

Image via Netflix

Black Mirror changed the game for sci-fi TV when it premiered back in 2011. Since then, every season of the anthology series has proven to be more disturbing and thought-provoking than its predecessor. The show, created by Charlie Brooker, first aired on Channel 4 before moving to the streamer in 2016, where it instantly found a global audience. The show has become the perfect reflection of human nature and how overreliance on technology can lead to devastating consequences. Every episode tells a standalone story set in a near-future that takes everyday anxieties and transforms them into nightmares that feel terrifyingly plausible.

This is exactly what makes the sci-fi show so binge-worthy, too. Each story ranges from 40 to 90 minutes but is so packed with tension and layered storytelling that it feels nothing short of a cinematic experience. Black Mirror is the kind of show the audience can’t stop thinking about after the credits roll. Most episodes are designed to leave the viewers feeling unsettled and emotionally exhausted, but that’s where the impact of the show lies. There’s no denying that the anthology series has had an uneven run, with the latest seasons receiving more criticism than the earlier ones. However, even then, Black Mirror continues to deliver some of the most unforgettable TV of the last decade.

6

‘Baby Reindeer’ (2024)

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There is so much more than meets the eye with Baby Reindeer. It’s one of Netflix’s most twisted watches in years that only leaves the audience wanting more. The series, created by and starring Richard Gadd, follows Donny Dunn, an aspiring comedian working as a bartender in London, who offers a free cup of tea to a distressed-looking woman named Martha (Jessica Gunning). That proves to be the biggest mistake of his life as Martha grows obsessed with him and begins stalking him in person and online. As Donny tries to build his comedy career, Martha’s presence begins affecting every part of his life. Now, of course, the suspense of it all is addictive.

However, this isn’t a clear victim versus predator story. The show often portrays Donny as unlikable and frustrating. In some instances, the audience is forced to question whether he is actually leading Martha on. Martha herself is also presented as a layered character who is unpredictable and volatile, but also clearly damaged and lonely. Gadd and Gunning’s performances are the heart of the story and make the chaos feel almost suffocating. Overall, Baby Reindeer is practically designed for binge-watching with its seven power-packed episodes that refuse to deliver clean answers.

5

‘Derry Girls’ (2018–2022)

Image via Channel 4

Derry Girls is the kind of heartwarming show that only comes around once in a while. On the surface, it is a charming teen sitcom that’s easily bingeable. The biggest hook is its setup, of course. The show follows Erin Quinn (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), her cousin Orla (Louisa Harland), their friends Clare (Nicola Coughlan), Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell), and Michelle’s English cousin James (Dylan Llewellyn) as they attend a strict Catholic school in Northern Ireland while dealing with the perils of growing up. However, the historical backdrop of the Troubles unfolding around them gives the show an added layer of complexity. That’s not to say that Derry Girls forces politics into the story.

Instead, the show uses real-life events such as President Bill Clinton’s 1995 visit and the eventual Good Friday Agreement vote as background noise in these kids’ lives. Sure, they are living through a period of conflict, but at the end of the day, they are just teenagers trying to attend concerts and taking school dances way too seriously. The dialogue is what truly makes Derry Girls as memorable as it is. The jokes come from every direction and encapsulate the sheer madness of growing up in a world where political tension is just another part of life. This show is the definition of laugh-out-loud TV that’s grounded in reality like no other. That’s an experience that just can’t be missed.

4

‘Midnight Mass’ (2021)

Image via Netflix

Midnight Mass is what intentional horror looks like. The show slowly pulls the audience into its haunting atmosphere before they even realize what’s truly happening. The show, created and directed by Mike Flanagan, is set on Crockett Island, a small and isolated fishing community that is crumbling under poverty. The story follows Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford), who returns home after serving four years in prison for a drunk-driving accident that killed a young woman, only to find the town heavy with grief. However, everything changes when a new priest, Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater), arrives at St. Patrick’s Church.

Midnight Mass might feel slow in the beginning due to its lack of jumpscares and twists that keep the viewers guessing. Every conversation in the show builds toward something bigger, though, and once the supernatural events begin, the narrative turns into a chilling exploration of what happens when belief turns into obsession. Slowly, the island starts viewing Father Paul as a God. Linklater’s passionate yet terrifying performance gives the story its intensity. Midnight Mass takes a familiar horror setup and turns it into something far more disturbing than one might think. The supernatural horror isn’t even the scariest part of it all as the story progresses. By the time the show ends, the island collapses into absolute fanaticism. The payoff is brutal while also feeling completely earned.

3

‘Squid Game’ (2021–2025)

Image via Netflix

Squid Game is another show that practically demands to be watched till the end, thanks to its impossibly high stakes. The Korean survival thriller, created, written, and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, centers around a secret competition where 456 desperate people compete against each other to win a life-changing cash prize. However, the catch is that if they lose a game, they die. The series follows Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), a debt-ridden gambler and struggling father, as he enters the games to turn his luck around, only to realize what he really is up against. Squid Games is addictive right from the start. The infamous Red Light Green Light sequence sets the show’s tone, and the audience instantly understands the kind of pressure the contestants are facing.

What’s extremely unsettling is that the competition forces these people to play childhood games that feel deceptively simple, but the way the contestants start panicking, calculating, and betraying each other under pressure stands as a sharp contrast to that. Every episode ends with a new moral dilemma that forces the viewer to keep watching, even when the narrative feels heavy. Despite all its gore, Squid Game is extremely emotionally grounded and reminds the audience that the contestants are real people with real lives outside the arena. Ultimately, the show is an intense commentary on capitalism, which means that even when the games end, the horror doesn’t fully go away.

2

‘Dept. Q’ (2025–Present)

Image via Netflix

Dept. Q is a crime thriller that everyone is bound to enjoy. The show, based on Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Department Q novels, follows Detective Chief Inspector Carl Morck (Matthew Goode), a skilled investigator who returns to duty after surviving an ambush shooting that left him physically wounded and drowning in guilt. The incident resulted in his partner James Hardy (Jamie Sives) being paralyzed, and the death of another young. All of this makes Morck’s forced comeback feel like a punishment more than anything else. The detective is forced to lead the police department’s latest PR project, Department Q, a cold-case unit created for the Scottish government to have unsolved crimes cleared for good headlines.

However, instead of being given actual resources, Morck is given a basement office and left to deal with piles and piles of neglected case files. However, things change when he slowly assembles a team of damaged outsiders, and together, they start digging into an unsolved case surrounded by corruption and personal vendettas that are yet to be uncovered. The show balances its procedural beats with layered character drama, and both narratives are equally gripping. Dept. Q is sharp, sarcastic, and surprisingly funny even in its bleak moments, and that makes it the perfect watch for anyone who appreciates a good mystery.

1

‘Stranger Things’ (2016–2025)

Image via Netflix

Stranger Things is and always will be one of Netflix’s breakout hits. The sci-fi series, created by the Duffer Brothers, is a warm, nostalgic, coming-of-age story with supernatural horror elements to deliver a truly unique narrative. The show is set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, and opens with the mysterious vanishing of a young boy named Will Byers (Noah Schnapp). Will’s disappearance sends his mother Joyce (Winona Ryder) into a spiral, and police officer Jim Hopper (David Harbour) is forced to handle the case that makes no logical sense. At the same time, Will’s friends stumble across a strange girl named Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) who possesses strange psychic powers and might be the key to finding Will and bringing him back.

Stranger Things hooks viewers in with this high-stakes premise that slowly works backwards to reveal that Hawkins is home to a secret government facility that accidentally opens a portal to an alternate dimension known as the Upside Down. Every season deepens the lore of this nightmare world and the monsters that reside within it, including the Demogorgons, the Mind Flayer, and eventually, Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower). The mystery constantly keeps expanding into a full-blown sci-fi epic that unfolds across five seasons that balance horror and conspiracy with the ups and downs of growing up. The show thrives on the chemistry between its core ensemble, and that’s only possible because of how realistic and natural the characters are written to be. Stranger Things is a once-in-a-lifetime watch that leans into emotion and spectacle in a way that has never been done on TV before.

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Stranger Things

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Release Date

2016 – 2025-00-00

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Network

Netflix

Directors

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Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont, Nimród Antal, Uta Briesewitz

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Kimora Lee Simmons
I Wanna Drop My Exes’ Last Names

Published
March 2, 2026
1:00 AM PST

The Actor Awards (formerly known as the Screen Actors Guild Awards) were presented in Hollywood tonight, at a ceremony hosted by three-time host Kristen Bell. Separating them from other awards shows, the Actor Awards not only award individual performances, but also outstanding performances by an ensemble. This year’s Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series category was a murderers’ row of acclaimed dramatic series, but in the end only one could win: this year, that’s rookie medical drama The Pitt.

The Pitt‘s ensemble includes Amielynn Abellera, Shabana Azeez, Patrick Ball, Isa Briones, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif, Supriya Ganesh, Joanna Going, Gerran Howell, Michael Hyatt, Tracy Ifeachor, Katherine LaNasa, Krystel V. McNeil, Brandon Mendez Homer, Alexandra Metz, Tracy Vilar, Kristin Villanueva, and Noah Wyle. The Pitt also won the other award it was nominated for: the Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series, which went to leading man Wyle. Other programs nominated in the category include The Diplomat, Landman, Severance, and The White Lotus. The White Lotus is the only previous winner that was up for the award this year; it won in 2022 for its second, Italy-set season. Severance was also nominated that year, and The Diplomat was a nominee last year, while Landman, like The Pitt, was nominated in its first season.

Who Were the Other Nominees for the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Actor Award?

The dramatic ensemble category was challenging this year, but The Pitt had the inside track to success; its spiritual successor, ER, took the award four times in the 1990s. And while The Diplomat lost this category, it didn’t go home empty-handed, as series lead Keri Russell took the Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series. The other nominees are as follows:

The Diplomat – Ali Ahn, Penny Downie, Rosaline Elbay, Ato Essandoh, David Gyasi, Rory Kinnear, Nana Mensah, Graham Miller, Keri Russell, and Rufus Sewell

Landman – Paulina Chávez, Mark Collie, Sam Elliott, Colm Feore, Andy Garcia, James Jordan, Ali Larter, Jacob Lofland, Caleb Martin, Demi Moore, Michelle Randolph, Mustafa Speaks, Billy Bob Thornton, and Kayla Wallace

Severance – Patricia Arquette, Sarah Bock, Michael Chernus, Zach Cherry, Dichen Lachman, Britt Lower, Darri Ólafsson, Adam Scott, Tramell Tillman, Jen Tullock, John Turturro, and Christopher Walken

The White Lotus – Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Nicholas Duvernay, Arnas Fedaravicius, Christian Friedel, Scott Glenn, Walton Goggins, Jon Gries, Dom Hetrakul, Sarah Catherine Hook, Jason Isaacs, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Julian Kostov, Charlotte Le Bon, Lalisa Manobal, Michelle Monaghan, Sam Nivola, Morgana O’Reilly, Lek Patravadi, Shalini Peiris, Parker Posey, Sam Rockwell, Natasha Rothwell, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Tayme Thapthimthong, and Aimee Lou Wood

Another big winner tonight is AppleTV’s Hollywood satire The Studio. It took home both individual comedy acting categories (for Seth Rogen and the late Catherine O’Hara) and for best comedic ensemble.

The Pitt is now streaming on HBO Max. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

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Release Date

January 9, 2025

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Max

Showrunner

R. Scott Gemmill

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Directors

Amanda Marsalis

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Writers

Joe Sachs, Cynthia Adarkwa

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• 

  Noah Wyle

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  Dr. Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch

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  Tracy Ifeachor

  Dr. Heather Collins

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Harrison Ford looked back on his iconic career as he received the SAG-AFTRA Life Achievement Award during the 2026 Actor Awards.

The Shrinking star, 83, accepted the honor from with a moving speech during the Sunday, March 1, ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in Los Angeles.

“I feel incredibly grateful for this kind of attention, but to be clear, I also am quite humbled. I’m in a room with actors, many of whom are here because they’ve been nominated to receive a prize for their amazing work, while I’m here to receive a prize for being alive,” Ford emotionally began. “That said, it’s a little weird to be getting a Lifetime Achievement Award at the half-point of my career. It’s a little early, isn’t it? I’m still a working actor.”

Ford further acknowledged his history as a performer.

Related: SAG‘s 2026 Actor Awards Red Carpet Photos: Stars Dress to the Nines

Hollywood’s biggest stars stepped out in full force for SAG-AFTRA’s 32nd Actor Awards. Celebrities delivered a masterclass in modern glamour and timeless tailoring as film and television’s finest gathered to celebrate standout performances at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 1. Thank You! You have successfully subscribed. Subscribe to newsletters Please enter […]

“I was not an overnight success. I struggled for about 15 years, going from acting job to carpentry and back to acting till I finally got a part in a wildly successful film. None of this happened on my own, thank you, George Lucas, [and] thank you, Steven Spielberg,” he said. “In my third year of college, I was a little lost. I was failing at school, I felt isolated and alone, and then I found a company of people putting on plays, storytellers. People I once thought were misfits and geeks turned out to be ‘my people.’ I found a calling, a life in storytelling, an identity in pretending to be other people. Work I do with other actors is one of the great joys of my life. My career is built on their work, as well as the work of writers, directors and every single cast member, every crew member I’ve ever been on a set with.”

Ford also gushed about his “incredible collaborators at every step” of his journey.

“Being able to deliver the work that we create together to an audience is an honor and a privilege, and because of that privilege, I’ve come to know myself,” he continued. “Ours is a tough business to get into, [and] in my case it’s been a tough business to get out of — thank God, ’cause I love what I do. As actors we get to live many lives, we get to explore many ideas that are firm and elevate our shared experience.”

Ford added, “The stories we tell have a unique capacity to create moments of emotional connection. They bring us together, so while we’re all at different stages of our lives and careers in this room, we all share something fundamental. We share the privilege of working in the world of ideas, of empathy, of imagination. Sometimes we make entertainment, sometimes we make art, sometimes, we’re lucky, we get to make both at the same time. And if we’re really fortunate, we also get to make a living doing it.”

Ford further revealed how “lucky” he feels to live his dreams.

“I’m indeed a lucky guy, lucky to have found my people, lucky to have work that challenges me and lucky to be still doing it. I don’t take that for granted,” he said. “I want to say thank you, truly, from the bottom of my heart to my peers, to my extraordinary, beautiful wife, Calista [Flockhart], and my family, who have given me love and courage through all of it, and thank you to SAG-AFTRA for honoring me with this prize. This is very encouraging.”

SAG-AFTRA announced Ford as the latest recipient of the Life Achievement Award in December 2025.

“Harrison Ford is a singular presence in American life; an actor whose iconic characters have shaped world culture. His career has been endlessly exciting, always returning to his love of acting,” SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin said in a statement at the time. “We are honored to celebrate a legend whose impact on our craft is indelible.”

In his own statement, Ford added, “I am deeply honored to be chosen as this year’s recipient of the SAG-AFTRA Life Achievement Award. To be acknowledged by my fellow actors means a great deal to me. I’ve spent most of my life on film sets, working alongside incredible actors and crews, and I’ve always felt grateful to be part of this community.”

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Related: SAG’s 2026 Actor Awards Winners List

The competition was fierce at SAG-AFTRA’s 2026 Actor Awards.  Kristen Bell hosted the Sunday, March 1, event, held at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in Los Angeles, for the third year in a row.  Bell, 45, has been the only official emcee for the annual ceremony, previously known as the SAG Awards, since 2018. […]

Ford joins the ranks of previous SAG-AFTRA Life Achievement Award recipients such as Clint Eastwood, James Earl Jones, Dick Van Dyke, Carol Burnett, Robert De Niro, Helen Mirren, Sally Field, Barbra Streisand and Jane Fonda.

Ford is known for his legendary roles as Han Solo in the Star Wars franchise and the titular archaeologist in the Indiana Jones franchise. His other notable films include 1982’s Blade Runner, 1985’s Witness, 1992’s Patriot Games, 1993’s The Fugitive and 1997’s Air Force One.

More recently, Ford has made his mark on the television industry, starring on the Paramount+ series 1923 from 2022 to 2025 and the Apple TV show Shrinking since 2023.

Despite his lengthy list of acting credits, Ford has yet to costar with wife Calista Flockhart, whom he has been married to since June 2010.

“That’s just the circumstantial reality where we haven’t been offered something where we’d work together,” he exclusively told Us Weekly in February 2025, adding that he would “love to work” with Flockhart, 61, if the right opportunity came along.

Ford also revealed that his current role on Shrinking allows him to enjoy more quality time with his family. (He is the father of sons Ben, 59, and Willard, 56, with ex-wife Mary Marquardt, son Malcolm, 38, and daughter Georgia, 35, with late ex-wife Melissa Mathison and son Liam, 25, with Flockhart.)

“This is the best job I’ve ever had,” he explained. “I live half an hour away. I go home and I sleep in my own bed. I’m in the same town as my wife and children and I’m doing really smart, intelligent storytelling with incredibly talented people.”

Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for Dark Winds Season 4 Episode 3.

Three episodes into Dark Winds Season 4, and the AMC neo-Western crime drama is pulling no punches. In this week’s “Ahááldláádígíí (That Which Has Been Torn Apart),” Lt. Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) encounters Season 4 antagonist Irene Vaggan (Franka Potente) for the first time. It becomes clear to our Navajo hero that the killer-for-hire is obsessed with him — and that makes her even more dangerous. Ahead of the Season 4 premiere, Collider had the chance to speak with McClarnon about what fans can expect in Season 4, the strange dynamic between Leaphorn and Vaggan, and his new role as a director.

Zahn McClarnon Reveals the Real Similarity Between Joe and Vaggan in ‘Dark Winds’ Season 4

Image via AMC

COLLIDER: If fans weren’t sure that Dark Winds could get more intense in its fourth year, I think Irene Vaggan and everything going on with that proves that it’s not slowing down any time soon. The scene in Episode 3 between you and Franka Potente, where she confronts Joe at the sweat, is especially chilling. Obviously, some of their differences are clear, but in what ways, if any, do you think there are commonalities between Joe and Vaggan? What makes her so interested in Joe?

ZAHN McCLARNON: Well, what makes her interested in Joe… That’s probably a Franka question. But she’s German, and she grew up with these books, these Winnetou books by Karl May. There’s a subculture in Germany [where] they have these weekend campouts, and people dress up as Natives. These actually still take place. They’re not Renaissance Faires, but people dress up in buckskin and play “mountain man and muskets.” They do that in Germany. It’s a subculture; they’re fascinated with Native American culture.

So, this character, Irene Vaggan, grew up with those books, the Winnetou books, and she seems to be fascinated, obsessed, with Joe Leaphorn. She’s a hitman. She kills people. And what do I think that I have in common with a Nazi hit-person? [Laughs] She’s certainly strong-willed. How’s that? When she wants something, she definitely goes for it. I think that Joe has those same strengths for putting himself out there and believing in something. That strength of believing is something so strong, and Joe just believes in other things. He believes in his culture, he believes in his job and what he does in protecting his people. He has different values, but he believes in those values.

Come Season 4, Joe is almost a new man after everything he went through in Season 3 and all the changes that have happened in that time between. We spoke last year on set about Leaphorn’s need to find balance in his life, something that Vaggan actually notes as well. In your estimation, what is it that he is actually needing to balance to become that man that Emma first fell in love with again?

McCLARNON: Yeah, that’s a good point with Franka… I think Vaggan is looking for that balance as well. Yeah, you’re right. I think that is what they do have in common — quite a bit — is that search for balance. Vaggan is searching for something that she never had growing up. I think they definitely have that in common because Joe is searching for what the Diné people call “hózhó,” which is “balance” and “peace of mind.”

I don’t think Joe has got his head straight yet. I don’t know if Joe will ever get his head straight. I think, as human beings, we’re always searching for that balance and happiness and peace of mind. This season, as Joe leans on his cultural ways, his ceremonies, to go back and to find that balance, that hózhó… Does he completely find it? Is he better from last season? I think he’s still dealing with the fact that some of the decisions that he’s made in the past are biting him in the butt. He might lose everything he loves, that he values. That’s Emma (Deanna Allison) and his job. He values those things, out of everything in life, more than anything. So, he’s on the edge.

Related

‘Dark Winds’ Showrunner Unpacks Season 4’s Terrifying New Villain After That Intense Premiere: “She’s Demented”

John Wirth also explains the process behind choosing which Tony Hillerman book to adapt for each new season.

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Zahn McClarnon Opens Up About Directing ‘Dark Winds’ Season 4

Image via AMC+

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In addition to headlining the series and serving as an executive producer, this season you also directed Episode 2 [“Bikéé’ Doo Éédahoozįįdę́ę́góó (Toward Their Unknown Paths)”], which included that killer shootout in the diner at the beginning. What was the transition like going from acting in front of the camera to directing the action from behind it? Was that something you’ve wanted to do for a long time?

McCLARNON: It actually wasn’t really on my radar, to be honest with you. It’s hard to pass up an opportunity when it’s… It wasn’t exactly offered, it was more: “What do you think about directing?” You know what I mean? It just became an idea. At first, it terrified me because I had never really thought about directing before. Except being on set for 30 years, I didn’t know anything about directing, to be honest with you. And I’ve become so embedded in this show, and being on this show for four seasons, I’ve learned more in these four seasons than I have in 30 years of being on any other set.

So, when it was suggested to me… I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to learn more about [it.] Because I’m learning about producing, I’m learning about the writing room, I’m learning about production and being an EP on this show, casting, etc. Dealing with the meetings, with the network meetings, and marketing… I’m learning so much, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to learn even more. And directing? I have such a great team. I mean, I’ve got experienced directors that were sitting next to me. I’ve got very experienced 1st ADs, DPs, that we all collaborated. So, it was a huge collaborative effort. We’re going to try and do it again [next] season.

That’s great. Do you think you’ll try your hand at maybe writing an episode in the future?

McCLARNON: I don’t know about writing… I don’t think I have the brain to write. I’m too critical. [Laughs] I can barely get through an episode of television without questioning every movement I make. So, in writing, it would even be worse because I’m sitting alone in a room writing a script — if I wasn’t a part of the writing room — and… I don’t know if I could ever get through… I would always be questioning: “Well, it could be this way. It could be that way.” And I don’t have anyone around me to correct me? If I was writing by myself. I’d probably drive myself crazy. I really would. Who knows, though! You never know.

Maybe they’ll pull you into the room and say, “Give us your ideas.”

Maybe, yeah, if [showrunner John Wirth] asked me. But you’re asking a #1 on a TV show to come into the writing room? I don’t know if that’s the greatest idea. Everybody would be kind of walking on eggshells around the lead actor. I’m not sure that’s a great idea.

Dark Winds airs Sundays on AMC and AMC+.

Michael Irvin
Belt To Ass All 2026
‘Canes Going Undefeated!!!

Published
March 2, 2026
12:30 AM PST

American actor and singer Hunter Parrish was only 18 years old when he first started playing Silas — the popular, naïve high school student focused on girls — on the popular show “Weeds” back in 2005.

Hunter was part of an ensemble cast including Mary-Louise Parker, Justin Kirk and Elizabeth Perkins.

New Parent Survival Guide
Must-Have Baby Gear 👶🏽

Published
March 2, 2026
12:05 AM PST