Kanye West returned to Los Angeles with a spectacle that reignited debate about his enduring influence.

Despite years of controversy, the rapper drew a near-capacity crowd eager to celebrate his music rather than revisit his past.

The night blended theatrics, fan loyalty, and familiar hits, suggesting that his cultural pull remains strong even amid ongoing scrutiny and unanswered questions.

Kanye West Returns To A Divided Spotlight

The comeback performance unfolded at SoFi Stadium, where Kanye West positioned himself atop a glowing dome designed to resemble the Earth rotating beneath him.

The staging felt symbolic, presenting the rapper as someone still at the center of his own universe despite the storms surrounding his career. The visual spectacle reinforced the idea of resilience, even as his public reputation remains complicated.

Not long ago, the artist faced backlash for offensive statements and controversial releases, which many believed would end his mainstream career. Yet, the turnout suggested otherwise.

The crowd’s enthusiasm signaled that, for a significant segment of fans, the music still outweighs the controversies. The event coincided with strong streaming numbers for his latest album, “BULLY,” reinforcing the notion that his audience remains engaged.

Advertisement

Industry partnerships also hinted at continued support. Collaborations and chart projections added momentum to the narrative that he has not been fully sidelined.

The stadium setting itself was proof that major venues are still willing to host him, a notable development given the scrutiny he has faced.

Fans Separate Art From Artist

Before the show, several attendees expressed a willingness to focus on the music rather than the controversies. Many described the new material as reminiscent of earlier phases of Kanye West’s career, fueling anticipation for the performance.

Conversations around the venue reflected a broader sentiment that longtime listeners are accustomed to separating the artist’s personal actions from his creative output.

“We know his medical history and why he has his rants, he talks about being bipolar,” Chris Gutierrez, a 32-year-old fan, told The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the concert. “We’re coming here more to appreciate the music.”

Advertisement

Gutierrez added perspective on the divisions within his own circle. He said, “It’s hard, I get it. I come from a psych background. I don’t know if he was lucid enough or he wasn’t. But we’re here more for the music.”

His friend Max, offered a concise endorsement, stating, “I mean, he’s a musical genius.”

Another fan, Ingrid Sandoval, 32, explained that her view shifted after learning more about the rapper’s personal disclosures.

She said that attending the concert now felt different compared to earlier in the controversy cycle.

Advertisement

“I feel like now it’s ok, but I would say that if I did this like a year ago, I’d probably be more judged,” she shared.

These perspectives showed how audience loyalty continues to shape the narrative around West’s return.

Kanye West Keeps Controversy Offstage

Although he previously issued an apology for past antisemitic statements, Kanye West avoided addressing the subject during the performance.

Instead, he spoke minimally, allowing the visuals and music to dominate the night. The decision to sidestep controversy appeared intentional, focusing attention squarely on the show itself.

Advertisement

The concert began later than scheduled, a familiar trait of his live appearances. When it finally started, the reveal of the dome drew cheers from the crowd.

The performance, however, was not without hiccups. At several points, he paused songs to tweak lighting or visuals, turning the show into a partly improvised production.

Early in the set, he instructed the team to “make the earth move slower.” Later, while performing “Good Life,” he restarted the song multiple times while adjusting stage elements.

At one point, he addressed the technical issues directly, asking, “Is this an SNL Skit,” before adding, “Stop with the vibrating Vegas lights.”

Advertisement

The candid remarks added spontaneity to the performance, even if they disrupted the flow.

Surprise Guests And Classic Hits Lift The Crowd

Despite uneven moments, the audience remained energized, especially when the set shifted toward familiar tracks.

The reaction intensified when older hits began to play, demonstrating the lasting power of Kanye West’s catalog.

The night balanced new material with fan favorites, ensuring wider appeal.

Advertisement

Guest appearances added excitement. Don Toliver joined him for performances, while his daughter North West also appeared, drawing enthusiastic responses.

The setlist spanned multiple eras, including collaborations and songs from across his discography.

Selections such as “Black Skinhead,” “Bound 2,” and “Carnival” maintained momentum, while earlier classics like “All Falls Down,” “Jesus Walks,” and “Through the Wire” triggered loud sing-alongs.

Even when live vocals were occasionally unclear, the crowd’s enthusiasm never wavered.

Advertisement

The communal atmosphere suggested that, for many attendees, the experience itself outweighed technical imperfections.

Kanye West Closes With A Reflective Note

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTtj81Csq54

The concert ended with “Runaway,” a choice that reflected the emotional complexity of West’s career.

The track’s introspective tone contrasted with the night’s bombastic staging, offering a quieter conclusion.

Advertisement

It also reminded fans of the vulnerability that once defined some of his most acclaimed work.

While questions remain about Kanye West’s future direction, the evening demonstrated that his connection with audiences endures.

The crowd’s response indicated that, at least for now, his musical legacy continues to resonate.

For supporters in attendance, the performance served as both a comeback and a reminder of why they became fans in the first place.

Advertisement

Production on season 15 of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” is set to begin soon. It will feature returning fan-favorites Teresa Giudice, Dolores Catania, and Melissa Gorga. Now, ahead of production on “RHONJ,” Giudice is opening up about when she knew she was returning to the show and more.

Teresa Giudice Says She Knew She Was Returning to ‘RHONJ’

Giudice published a new episode of her “Turning The Tables With Teresa Giudice” podcast. For this one, the “RHONJ” star opened up about her return to the show while answering questions from fans and her co-host.

First, she was asked how she found out that Bravo was interested in her returning to the show. Giudice responded, “I mean, I knew for a little bit that this was happening, but it’s always confirmed when Bravo put it out there.

She went on, “So, I was happy when they put that out there.” From there, Giudice reflected on her legacy, saying, “I’m still here from the beginning. I’m grateful, and Bravo made their decision, and that’s it.”

The Mom Of Four Says She’s Excited For The Newbies

So far, Bravo has not unveiled the full cast for season 15 of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.” Presumably, the three returning ladies will be joined by approximately four new cast members. During the podcast, she spoke about the possibilities with the new ladies.

According to Giudice, “I’m excited to meet the new women. I’m really excited. I’m a girl’s girl. I like making new friends. So I can’t wait.” Her cohost then asked whether she knew when production would begin, and she said she could not say. However, Bravo has claimed filming will begin this spring.

Giudice went on, “We can’t talk about that yet, but everybody’s gonna know once we start. The fans will take videos and stuff like that.”

Additionally, a fan wrote to the show, calling season 15 of “RHONJ” a “make or break” for the show and asking whether she felt pressured by it. Giudice responded, “I’m just taking it for what it is. Listen, I’m excited. It couldn’t keep going for what it was, so I’m excited for new blood.”

She added, “I love making new friends. I feel like it’s a new chapter.” The “RHONJ” star also called the upcoming season “a reset.”

Fans Are Reacting To Teresa’s Remarks

Following Giudice’s remarks about “RHONJ” season 15, fans took to the comments section to not only react but to also give their thoughts on the show.

One person wrote, “I honestly, honestly, honestly, just want Teresa, Joe & Melissa to get on and be happy after the last few years. We’ve all enjoyed ‘Housewives’ drama, but theirs went too far and was very upsetting. I’m not religious, but I’m praying for them all.”

Another “RHONJ” fan said, “The show could never be the same without YOU! You have evolved, and true fans can see you for who you are. God Bless in all your endeavors.”

Someone else stated, “Teresa, the best part in all of this, particularly with Marge being tossed aside, is that you can finally have FUN again on the show, the show can be fun like it used to be, no Marge cult running around to ruin everything! Drama will always come naturally, but we don’t need someone chasing after you like Marge was; it was really hard to watch her.”

Lastly, a different social media user said, “Teresa, we’re all so glad you’re back!!! Ding dong, the Marge is GONE! People are dancing in the streets in celebration!”

Andy Cohen And The ‘RHONJ’ Cast Are Excited

“The Real Housewives of New Jersey” hasn’t had a new episode air since 2024. After that, there were multiple reports about the show, including that they were considering moving forward without Giudice. Then, in March 2026, the network confirmed that not only would Giudice be returning, but Gorga and Catania would as well.

Since then, according to Bravo, Andy Cohen has shared his thoughts. He said, “This has been a journey. We have gone through this has been a long and winding road to get to this place, and I’m very excited. What we owe you is a good show, so that’s what we want to deliver.”

Gorga said in a video, “Lots of good news today, ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey’ is back, baby! Let’s go! I know you missed us, Jersey girls, so I’m super excited about that. I have so much I wanna say about that. I just keep going on, and on, and on. But I think I’m just gonna say it’s about time, OK? Jersey’s in the house.”

Catania also spoke on “Watch What Happens Live” about keeping the peace between Gorga and Giudice.

Bravo Is Also Premiering ‘RHORI’

Bravo announced multiple shows amid the “RHONJ” hiatus. One such show is “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island,” which many, including Cohen, have compared to “New Jersey.” Notably, Catania will appear on the series as a friend of the show, as she has a history with cast member Liz McGraw.

According to Bravo, she recently spoke about Rhode Island, where she spent the summer of 2025 during filming. Catania said, “It was beautiful. We had an amazing house on the water with hydrangeas, a huge yard, and a bird feeder. Every morning, I was feeding the birds. I was walking to this little town. It was insane. Beautiful. Sunsets were amazing. Every day.”

“The Real Housewives of Rhode Island” premieres on Bravo on April 2, and Peacock subscribers can watch it the following day.

The Hunting Party‘s Bex and Shane have a lot of fans rooting for their love story — including Melissa Roxburgh‘s Manifest costar Josh Dallas.

“I do know [about them]. I was on set and I am a huge shipper of this,” Dallas, 47, gushed exclusively to Us Weekly about the fictional romance. “I so want this to happen and I think it would be great.”

Dallas urged for the NBC series to lean into the “slow burn” between Bex (Roxburgh) and Shane (Josh McKenzie). Roxburgh, 33, couldn’t help but agree, telling Us that “slow burns are great” when it comes to onscreen love stories.

“What keeps you there episode to episode is the killer and the height of what’s going on and just the craziness of what these killers are doing,” she noted. “But I think what sticks in your brain as you continue through the show is like, ‘But will they or won’t they? What’s going on there? So I think everyone loves a will they or won’t they?’”

Related: Jopper! Chenford! TV Couples Who Took a Very Long Time to Get Together

Worth the wait. From Teen Wolf‘s Stiles and Lydia to Stranger Things‘ Joyce and Hopper, some TV shows introduced couples that took quite some time to finally get together. The hit MTV series, which aired from 2011 to 2017, focused on a high school student who became a teenage werewolf after he was bitten by […]

The Hunting Party, which premiered in 2025, is a crime procedural about investigators who are assembled to track down and capture the most dangerous killers in the country. The twist? The criminals escaped from a top-secret prison that’s not supposed to exist.

Roxburgh’s character is an ex-FBI agent recruited to the task force due to her reputation as a profiler who caught the world’s most dangerous serial killers. After a past connection with Oliver (Nick Wechsler), who was killed off at the beginning of season 2, viewers have focused all their attention on Bex and Shane.

“As far as the characters go, I am always cheering for the history and the relationships where it’s like they’ve been through so much together,” Roxburgh previously told Us in February 2025. “If they do build this love story and love triangle, Shane is safe and he’s very calm and cool waters. We have the bad boy who murdered someone and he had a reason. We have the person who didn’t murder someone. We’ll see.”

Elsewhere on the show, Roxburgh was able to reunite with Dallas after Manifest in the Thursday, April 2, episode of the hit NBC series.

Related: TV Couples We Need Together in 2026: From ‘The Pitt’ to ‘Tracker’

Advertisement

Fan-favorite TV couples like 9-1-1’s Buck and Eddie, The Bear’s Sydney and Carmy and Tracker’s Colter and Reenie — or Billie — deserve to finally get together on screen in 2026. Based on Jeffery Deaver‘s novel The Never Game, Tracker has viewers tuning in each week to see their favorite fictional survivalist — a.k.a Colter […]

“I couldn’t have been more thrilled with this character. He’s diabolical, of course. But it was just so juicy and delicious to be able to play somebody whose moral code was so, so different from anything that I’ve ever played before,” Dallas recalled. “But putting that aside, just to be back on the screen and back on set with Melissa was the real high point for me.”

Roxburgh “tried to get Josh on the show” several times before the right role came along.

Thank You!

You have successfully subscribed.

Advertisement

“I’ve been trying to get him on the show for a long time and then finally he was free,” she shared with Us. “We have been talking back and forth about when that might happen. There was one other episode — I won’t say which one — that we had tried to get him for.”

She concluded: “This was a perfect match for him because his killer is a shoemaker. I know that Josh Dallas likes nice clothes so we got him for the good stuff.”

The Hunting Party airs on NBC Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET and new episodes are available to stream on Peacock the next day.

This is said with love, but martial arts movies do tend to be pretty simple affairs. They’re often simple in good ways, it should be stressed. These films aim to highlight excellent fight choreography over pretty much anything else, so you’ll get something like The Raid, which is just about fighting one’s way out of a very dangerous apartment building, or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which is about people all trying to get their hands on a prized weapon.

Essentially, it means plenty of martial arts movies can be started and ended pretty seamlessly in just the one film, with the aforementioned The Raid getting a sequel, but only one (well, for now). In a few cases, martial arts movies have gotten two sequels, making for a trilogy, and some of the best martial arts trilogies are ranked below. Also, if something got three or more sequels, and became a series that stretched on longer than a trilogy, then they won’t be counted here (that’s why there’s no John Wick, Police Story, or Ip Man, even though each of those were, for at least some time, definable as trilogies).

7

‘Ong Bak’ (2003–2010)

Image via EuropaCorp

The tagline of Ong Bak (2003) was “No computer graphics. No stunt doubles. No wires.” That does sum it up. It wanted people to know this would be a little more intense and maybe old-school than some of the more recent martial arts movies that had been popular (like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon being wuxia, and The Matrix being sci-fi-heavy). And it’s probably something they wanted to highlight more back in the early 2000s, because CGI was starting to be used a lot more in action movies, and it didn’t always look great.

For what it’s worth, the first Ong Bak is easily the best. Ong Bak 2 is messy and inconsistent, but it does have a good final act that delivers the goods, as far as action’s concerned. Ong Bak 3, though… eh. Not great. Maybe a couple of parts that are sort of fun, if a bit silly. Still, it is technically a trilogy, and like, one and a half movies here are worth watching, so Ong Bak just sneaks in at the bottom of this ranking, is what it is and all.

6

‘Dead or Alive’ (1999–2002)

Image via Daiei Film

This is also a bit of a sneaky pick, because the Dead or Alive movies make up a very loose trilogy, overall. Also, they’re more definable as yakuza movies rather than full-blown martial arts ones, but Takashi Miike, as chaotic as always, throws a lot in to make the films here less and less “normal,” by the standards of the yakuza sub-genre. The third film in the trilogy, Dead or Alive: Final (2002), is a full-on sci-fi movie, of all things.

The first two aren’t, with Dead or Alive (1999) being weird, but still the least weird of them all, and Dead or Alive 2: Birds (2000) ultimately being the best of the bunch by quite a bit, striking the ideal level of bizarre and darkly comedic. Takashi Miike did direct all three, and they’re all crime/action-related while starring the same two actors across the trilogy, but there are different characters in each movie, and various other genres that are dipped into throughout (or, at the very least, it’s accurate to say that each Dead or Alive movie is quite different tonally).

5

‘Armour of God’ (1986–2012)

Image via Golden Harvest

The best way to sell this trilogy is to say that it stars Jackie Chan basically doing his own version of Indiana Jones, and at least the first two movies came out when he was still pretty much in his prime. The first film, Armour of God (1986), has some really top-tier action sequences and stunts, enough so that it’s worth getting through the slower parts of the movie for that good stuff. Then, film #2, Operation Condor (1991), is probably even better, or at least more consistent.

The third film, Chinese Zodiac, came much later (in 2012), and isn’t as good as either of the first two movies, but it’s not awful for a late-stage Jackie Chan movie, with there being some fun in seeing him return to an already-established character and series one last time. If you’re after the best long-running Jackie Chan series, it is the aforementioned Police Story one, but that’s longer than a trilogy now… so, if you want something that’s right on being an actual trilogy, guess you’ve got this one.

4

‘The Samurai Trilogy’ (1954–1956)

Image via Toho

If you don’t like seeing a samurai trilogy here, when the topic is martial arts, tough. It’s kind of hard to find a decent number of martial arts trilogies without including samurai-related ones, so here’s a trio of movies known as the Samurai Trilogy. Well, it’s one of two trilogies known as the Samurai Trilogy, but it came first. There was one a year throughout the middle of the 1950s, the first being Musashi Miyamoto (1954), named after the central character, the second being Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955), and the third being Duel at Ganryu Island (1956).

All starred Toshirō Mifune, and stuck to following the progression of his character from a wannabe samurai warrior to an actual one. The first movie came out the same year Mifune was in the most legendary samurai movie of all time (the one about Seven of them), but these movies in the Samurai Trilogy shouldn’t be overlooked, or entirely overshadowed by that other one… nor some of the other more famous samurai movies Mifune appeared in later on, like Yojimbo, The Sword of Doom, and Samurai Rebellion.

3

‘Dragon Inn’ (1967–2011)

Image via Union Film Company

Advertisement

Perhaps even looser than most thematic trilogies, here are three movies that kind of tie together, or have some similarities. The first is just called Dragon Inn, and it’s an absolute classic. 25 years later, New Dragon Gate Inn was pretty narratively similar to Dragon Inn, but stylistically different enough to feel like a little more than just a remake, and then nearly 20 years after that, there was a continuation of sorts with Flying Swords of Dragon Gate.

There’s a shared location across all three, more or less, and that location is used as a place for various people to meet at and fight near, all for different reasons. Things get shaken up quite a bit in terms of look and feel, between movies, and then the quality also varies, to some extent… the first is great, the second is good, and the third here is a bit forgettable, but if you wanted to judge them all as one trilogy, it’s an overall far from bad one.

2

Yōji Yamada’s ‘Samurai Trilogy’ (2002–2006)

All the films that make up another Samurai Trilogy (this one can be differentiated from the trilogy starring Toshirō Mifune by mentioning that it’s a collection of films directed by Yōji Yamada) are very quiet and drama-focused affairs, rather than being all-out action films. You get maybe a couple of brief bursts of action found, on average, in each of these movies, but they’re more period dramas about the samurai way of life, exploring things like morality and honor (or a lack thereof).

If Harakiri can count as a martial arts movie, since it’s about samurai and has a couple of moments of action (albeit also with a focus on drama), then this Samurai Trilogy can probably go here, too. The Twilight Samurai (2002) is the first and best of the bunch, with the other two movies being still quite good overall, and admittedly thematically linked, rather than being about the same characters from The Twilight Samurai. All films (including 2004’s The Hidden Blade and 2006’s Love and Honor) were based on stories originally written by Shuhei Fujisawa, too. That’s another thing that ties them up into a thematic trilogy.

1

‘The 36th Chamber of Shaolin’ (1978–1985)

Image via Shaw Brothers Studio

With The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, as in the first movie in what became a trilogy, you get the basics, to some extent, but the basics are also done so remarkably well. If you have an idea in your head of what the typical 1970s martial arts movie might look like, it probably is The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, or something real close to it. There’s a young man who’s wronged, and he goes and trains a bunch so he can be skilled enough to get vengeance on those who’ve wronged him, and then once he’s trained enough, he goes out and gets the revenge he wants.

They’re the basics, in terms of an unlikely hero, a prolonged period of training, and some revenge-fueled action, yet handled so perfectly to the point that if you could only watch one classic martial arts movie, it could be wise to make it The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. And, okay, yeah, there’s less to say about the sequels, Return to the 36th Chamber (1980) and Disciples of the 36th Chamber (1985), but they find enough to do by way of continuing a story that already felt pretty complete, at the end of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. It also helps, for consistency’s sake, that the same director (Lau Kar-Leung) and lead actor (Gordon Liu) were involved in all three, even if the two sequels here lean a little more into comedy than the first film, and with Liu playing a different character in #2 than he does in #1 and #3 (it kind of works).

Advertisement

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

Release Date

February 2, 1978

Advertisement

Runtime

115 minutes

Director

Advertisement

Lau Kar-leung

Writers

Ni Kuang

Advertisement

Advertisement

• 

  Gordon Liu Chia-hui

  Liu Yu-de / Monk San Ta

• 

Advertisement

Advertisement

Joseph Duggar spoke about his experience in prison while on the phone with wife Kendra Duggar.

“I felt like [the] past two nights, like not last night, but the two nights before that, there [were] people up all night, and it was really loud and stuff, but so I didn’t get good sleep,” Joseph, 31, said to Kendra, 27, during one phone conversation from his recent stay at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Arkansas, according to audio obtained by Us Weekly. “So yesterday was a little bit more miserable.”

Joseph added that it can get “busy during the day” but also feels “rough being in there.”

The Counting On alum also claimed to Kendra that the sounds coming from other inmates’ cells were making it hard for him to focus.

“Sometimes I can’t even hear myself think whenever they’re next door,” he said, noting that the noise was “like getting hit by a jackhammer.”

In a second call with Kendra, Joseph shared that he couldn’t get any shut eye claiming another inmate threw a “tantrum.”

“I didn’t get much sleep last night. There [were] some tantrums happening. All day yesterday, there’s one guy having this whole tantrum thing. I was kind of waiting till he went to sleep,” he claimed per additional audio obtained by Us. “He got all processed through, and then I went to sleep for just a little while. I don’t know how long, really, but a little while.”

Joseph added there was another person throwing “a fit for two or three hours throughout the night.”

“He was just talking really loud, and they’re having to deescalate him the whole time, and every other word was the F word type thing,” he alleged.

Joseph also recounted an additional tantrum he allegedly heard while in his cell.

“The guy in one of the cells next door, in the holding cell, he was supposed to get checked in. He’s been thrown a tantrum all day,” he claimed. “Almost entertaining, except for, he’s pretty vulgar. So, I focus on my Bible reading.”

Advertisement

Related: Joseph Duggar’s Wife Says Family Is ‘Disappointed’ in Him During Prison Call

In a prison phone call, Joseph Duggar‘s wife, Kendra Duggar, revealed what his family thinks of his recent arrest. “Just know that everybody loves you, even if they’re disappointed,” Kendra, 27, said in a conversation from Thursday, March 26, later released by TMZ. Joseph, 31, acknowledged that he understood the “disappointment,” but he “absolutely” feels […]

Last month, Joseph was arrested in Arkansas on March 19. He was charged with lewd and lascivious behavior involving molestation of a victim less than 12 years old and lewd and lascivious behavior conducted by a person 18 years or older after a 14-year-old victim came forward to police accusing Joseph of molesting her when she was 9-years-old during a 2020 vacation to Panama City Beach, Florida.

Thank You!

You have successfully subscribed.

Advertisement

Joseph was extradited to Florida earlier this week, where he pleaded not guilty. He was released on $600,000 bail.

In addition to the molestation case, Joseph and Kendra were both charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, second-degree, and four counts of second-degree false imprisonment. These charges are unrelated to the molestation allegations.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.

When you’re into a show by the time its fourth season rolls around, chances are you’ll sense it unraveling: storylines that are worn thin, characters repeating themselves, and a general vibe that the show has peaked. Dark Winds isn’t suffering from any of this. In fact, it feels sharper as it progresses through each season, with four consecutive seasons earning a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, indicating intentionality rather than simply good luck in the ratings.

AMC has released a sneak peek from Episode 408, “Ni’ Hodisxǫs (The Glittering World),” which premieres Sunday, April 5 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC and AMC+. The finale sets up what’s shaping into a brutal endgame — Lt. Joe Leaphorn going head-to-head with Irene Vaggan in what’s being framed as less of a confrontation and more of a battle of wills, the kind that tends to leave at least one person broken on the other side.

‘Dark Winds’ is a Neo-Western Thriller That Refuses to Play by the Rules

Image via AMC

Dark Winds takes place in the sun-drenched, desolate landscape of the Southwest in the 1970s and centers on Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon), a lieutenant with the Navajo Tribal Police, and his deputies, Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) and Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten). On paper, this procedural drama has been done before, as its episodes consist of crime investigations, a close-knit group of friends, and undefined boundaries between right and wrong. However, this series takes a different approach to crime dramas than other programs of its kind, including its predecessors.

Dark Winds’ style is darker and more surreal than other similar series, with each case presented as a slow-building riddle that combines cultural practices (in this instance, Navajo spirituality) with generational trauma and a sorrow that lacks a neat resolution by the end of an episode. One moment you observe a man trailing a suspect through the desert and the next you are immersed in something resembling an other-worldly event; visions, folklore, memories that refuse to be forgotten.

Why That 100% Rotten Tomatoes Streak Actually Matters

Image via AMC

Look, plenty of shows have hit 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. For a season, maybe two, if they’re lucky, but holding that line across four consecutive seasons is rare. The kind of consistency most shows lose the second they get comfortable. The thing that distinguishes Dark Winds from other series is that it continues to improve after its first three seasons. Each season enhances the writing, rather than diluting it. The character growth is natural rather than forced. And when there’s a major change in tone (like Season 4’s move to Los Angeles in the late 1970s), the show doesn’t lose its identity.

Representatively, this series presents the culture, language, and characters of the Navajo Nation in a deliberately crafted way (though there is still room for improvement). You can see the effort here, especially in the changes made to build a stronger foundation for the series as it gained more popularity. This authenticity, combined with outstanding storytelling, is one reason why critics are regularly mentioned in their reviews.

Around McClarnon, the cast fills in the cracks. Gordon’s Chee feels caught between worlds—modern law enforcement and deep cultural roots he’s still trying to understand. Matten’s Manuelito brings this grounded determination, but you can see the strain as the job starts bleeding into her personal life. Their dynamic shifts season to season, never static, never easy. And then there are the guest players—people like Titus Welliver and Franka Potente — who drop in and immediately raise the temperature of whatever storyline they touch.

Season 4 of ‘Dark Winds’ Pushes Everything Further

Image via AMC

Dark Winds moved on to its fourth season with a focus on increasing risk. The connecting mystery of a missing Navajo teenager that was connected to a violent crime spree has expanded into a much larger, more complex, and ultimately more dangerous case than initially believed. The narrative unfolds across multiple locations, including outside the reservation and into parts of Los Angeles, creating an atmosphere of alienation and confusion for the characters as they adapt to their new environments.

It works.

Meanwhile, Chee and Manuelito are dealing with their own mess — injuries, relationships, unresolved pasts that refuse to stay quiet. The show leans harder into psychological horror, threading in unsettling imagery and dreamlike sequences that blur the line between reality and the unknown.

The series has already been renewed for a fifth season, set to arrive in 2027, which says a lot about AMC’s confidence in it—and, frankly, about how steady its audience has become. As for the newest episode, you can catch it on April 5.

Dark Winds doesn’t demand that you’ve been there since day one. You can jump in and catch up—Seasons 1 through 3 are already streaming on Netflix—and once it hooks you, it really hooks you. But more than that, it’s the kind of show that reminds you why television still works when it’s done right.