Dark Winds Season 4 Subtly Pays Homage To Robert Redford

Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Dark Winds season 4, episode 4.Dark Winds season 4, episode 4 included a small and easy-to-miss Easter egg that pays homage to the late actor Robert Redford. Dark Winds is no stranger to memorializing actors, directors, and crew members who have passed away. Dark Winds season 3 memorialized Joe Buffalino III, an assistant director, while Dark Winds season 4 remembered Taylor Roberts, a makeup artist for the show.

Not all of Dark Winds‘ tributes are as obvious as the after-episode tributes, however. In fact, this week’s episode of Dark Winds paid tribute to Robert Redford, who died in September 2025, in a way some viewers may have missed entirely. Some fans of the show also may not know just how important Redford was to Dark Winds, and how important Dark Winds was to him.

Dark Winds Season 4, Episode 4 Features A Movie Theater Screening Jeremiah Johnson

In the middle of Dark Winds season 4, episode 4, as Chee is exiting Sonny Bear Heart’s club, he briefly walks past a movie theater on the opposite side of the street. While it’s only visible for one shot, that movie theater’s marquee said that it was screening Jeremiah Johnson, Robert Redford’s classic 1972 Western film. Given that Dark Winds takes place in the early 1970s, Jeremiah Johnson was a new release in the show’s timeline.

Robert Redford played the titular role in Jeremiah Johnson, a role which is partly based on the real mountain man John “Liver-Eating” Johnson. In the film, Johnson is a veteran of war who moves to the Rocky Mountains to live in solitude as a fur trapper. His plans go awry as he quickly becomes embroiled in several conflicts between white settlers and local Native American tribes, including the Crow, Blackfoot, and Flathead tribes.

Jeremiah Johnson is often cited as one of Robert Redford’s best films, and certainly one of his best Westerns, behind only Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. That makes it a perfect movie to use to memorialize Redford and his contributions to the Western genre. Jeremiah Johnson‘s depiction of Native Americans also aligns with Redford’s own advocacy for Native American actors and filmmakers, and Dark Winds‘ core.

Robert Redford Was An Executive Producer For Dark Winds & Made A Cameo In Season 3

The reference to Robert Redford and Jeremiah Johnson in Dark Winds season 4, episode 4 wasn’t just to memorialize a legendary actor. Redford had deep ties to Dark Winds. He was an executive producer for the entire series, and he fought very hard to get the show made in the first place. Redford even made a cameo appearance in Dark Winds season 3, as an inmate alongside fellow executive producer George R.R. Martin.

Even that wasn’t the start of Redford’s dedication to Dark Winds, however. Dark Winds is based on Tony Hillerman’s “Leaphorn and Chee” novels, which Redford was a massive fan of. He originally got the movie rights to Hillerman’s novels in 1988, and he spent the next decades trying to get a successful adaptation off the ground. He managed to make 1991’s The Dark Wind and three more telefilms based on the books, but it was a struggle the whole time.

It would take 33 years from the time Redford first got the rights to Leaphorn and Chee until he finally convinced a studio to take a chance on Dark Winds. Part of the reason it took so long for an iconic actor like Redford is because Dark Winds is a story by and about Native American people. Native American actors, directors, and crew members are at the heart of the show, and Redford publicly said he had trouble securing funding because of that fact.

The cameo Redford made in Dark Winds season 3 also proved to be his final acting role, as he retired from acting in 2018. It’s clear that Dark Winds was incredibly special to Robert Redford, so it’s very fitting that the show would choose to honor him back with a reference to one of his Western films. While he may be gone, Robert Redford left a permanent mark on Dark Winds and the entire world.