‘Dark Winds’ Star Deanna Allison Breaks Down Emma and Joe’s Emotional Season 4 Reunion in Los Angeles (Exclusive)

Dark Winds finally brought Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) and his fellow officers out west as they searched for missing teen Billie Tsosie (Isabel Deroy-Olson) in Los Angeles, before Season 4’s big bad Irene Vaggan (Franka Potente) might find her.

Bringing Leaphorn to Los Angeles with Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) and Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten), also meant it was the right time to reconnect with his estranged wife, Emma (Deanna Allison), who had left their home at the end of Season 3 after she lied on his behalf to FBI Agent Sylvia Washington (Jenna Elfman) about his involvement in B.J. Vines’ (John Diehl) death.

Now working for the Indian Health Services (IHS) in Los Angeles, Emma took a call from Joe and agreed to meet after so many months apart, making for a brief reunion. Below, Allison breaks down her long-awaited return and what it could mean for the couple moving forward, especially considering Vaggan’s strange obsession with Joe. (Warning: Spoilers for Dark Winds, Season 4 Episode 4, ahead!)

Joe finally calls Emma, seemingly for the first time since she moved to Los Angeles, to tell her he’s there working on a case. What’s going through her mind when she hears his voice?

Deanna Allison: I think she’s wondering, like, What is this? Because I think by this point, we had determined that he hadn’t talked to her in a few months, and her friend who works at the IHS clinic on the Navajo Nation had said, well, you call her. He hasn’t reached out; he hasn’t done anything on his end to make that connection. So when he does, she’s a little cautious, a little curious about what this is, because her husband is a person who will communicate with reason and intention. They’ve been married for years, and she knows he’s still working hard just like her. They really love their service and their community, and all of that wonderful work that they put into it. So I feel like she’s taking it cautiously, but I want to say she’s happy too.

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When they meet up at a diner that Emma mentions, is it an example of absence makes the heart grow fonder?

It’s kind of like that awkwardness where she hasn’t seen him in a minute, but she loves him, that’s her husband, you know? Going back to the books of old Joe and Emma, they are just such a lovely couple who really have such joy and admiration for one another. They’re kind of almost like the missing pieces to one another. They know each other’s vulnerabilities and their strengths. Her noticing that he brought back her mixing sticks, and those mixing sticks are so sacred to the Navajo woman; you use those during your Kinaaldá ceremonies, and those mixing sticks really show resilience, strength, culture, family, and tradition. You make your blue corn mush with it. It is such a sacred moment, and he brings that to her. So for me, it was like [he’s saying] here’s your power,  you left these.

[It’s also his way] to still connect with her, even though he’s on a case there, and I think he mentions he wasn’t sure if he was going to call, but I believe she’s happy that he did. She had to move on from lying for him for murder, and so she’s found her new normal, and she’s back at work and feeling appreciated. There are a lot of underserved communities that still need help, whether you’re in LA or working with an Indigenous community there, or you’re on the Navajo reservation. But by him bringing those mixing sticks…  To a Navajo woman, that is a big thing. So it’s sweet because that was a beautiful gesture.

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Yeah, it’s proof he’s putting in the work, as well as with the tomatoes he brings after fixing the fence on their property. 

It’s just these little gestures that show he’s trying, in his own way. And even though he didn’t tell her that and call her, he brought her proof. Here’s my tomatoes, and she tastes one, and they’re sweet, you know? So that is a good moment of action of putting in the work, absolutely, and she definitely appreciates that.

Joe also tells Emma he’s planning to retire. Do you think she believes that? 

I don’t think she believes that he will retire, and honestly, she doesn’t think he should. She’s never ever told him that he ever had to retire. That’s always been something that he talked about. We need good leaders in our community, and how can we lose one of the best leaders who really keeps the community safe? Same with healthcare professionals, politicians, lawyers, we need good leaders in our community who want to continue the work and train the next generation. So she’s well aware of that, as an educated woman. They’re both educated, they went to school and came back to the reservation to give back to the community. So for her, she knows he’s so good at it. She has one-hundred percent belief in him, and she doesn’t see why he has to retire anyway. She’s not anywhere close to retiring herself.

We know Vaggan is on Joe’s tail, and she knows what Emma looks like. Should we be worried about her?

I think it comes down to where sometimes work can come too close to home, and I think that’s how I look at that situation. And once again, I will go back to the matriarch and the Navajo culture, where ceremony is so important with what work you do. You take that energy off you, so then that way it doesn’t follow you home.

Dark Winds, Season 4, Sundays, 9/8c, AMC & AMC+