Based on the iconic book series by Tony Hillerman, the third season of Dark Winds, which premiered on Sunday, picks up six months after the events of season two. Lt. Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) and Jim Cher (Kiowa Gordon) delve into the mysterious disappearance of two boys, with an abandoned bicycle and a blood-stained patch on the ground the only clues. Meanwhile, Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten), adjusts to her new role working Border Patrol far from home, but soon uncovers a dangerous smuggling network that carries significant implications.

Matten recently spoke with SciFi Vision about season three, including how Bernadette is fitting in at Border Patrol, how she’s following her instincts against her boss’s guidance, where her character’s love life is going this season, watching Robert Redford and George R. R. Martin film a scene, and much more.

Read the transcript below and catch new episodes every Sunday on AMC and AMC+.

SCIFI VISION:   To start, talk about sort of where she starts off at the beginning of the season, because obviously, she’s Border Patrol now. How is she sort of fitting in there at the beginning of the season?

JESSICA MATTEN:   So, Bernadette is taken into a completely new world and one thing I had to be cognizant about for the character is the fact that this would be the first time that she's leaving her Native reserve, and for a lot of Natives coming off of the reserve for the first time it could be quite daunting. The rules are different, and she comes from a small community, and to be thrown into not only a different city or state, also she's dealing with the border, so she's dealing with a completely different country on top of it. So, I wanted to portray her in a way that she is still powerful, but she's mindful of the fact that the power dynamic has definitely shifted, and she's a fish out of water, and she needs to kind of bow down a bit to her new boss and everything, because she's completely in a new setting.

So, I wanted her moments of vulnerability to creep in a lot more, if that makes sense, for the season, and as she gradually becomes more vulnerable that she's letting other things in her life slip through the cracks as well unbeknownst to her.

SCIFI VISION:   Even though she has a different job, she's still sort of doing her own investigation on the side. How important is it for her to do what's right regardless of anything else and to keep pushing on, even when her bosses, as you're saying, are kind of like, “no don't do that?”

JESSICA MATTEN:   Yeah, it's completely important for her to follow her instincts and to do what she feels is right. I think she's very motivated by justice as a character, and coming from a Native reserve, there is a different kind of jurisdiction and set of rules in itself, and a lot of Natives do not follow the outside societal rules. So, for her there's a part of her where it's not that it's necessarily rebellious, it's just what you do.

You know, if you're given a no, then you go around to find how to get that yes essentially, and she is that character; she is that person. I think also, because she's dealing with a topic of human trafficking that is so prevalent and relevant in her own community as an Indigenous person, there is a part of her that absolutely wants to tackle this injustice, because it resonates with her deeply and what her her families and community experience back home.

SCIFI VISION:   Is she, I guess, worried about what it could do to her career? And I know you can't obviously tell me what happens, but after this do you think that maybe she will be interested in going back to what she did do for work, because she can't, you know, explore the way she would like here.

JESSICA MATTEN:   I think there's a part of her mind that she understands as a female cop that she just has to be bold and brash to get what she wants, and I think her being off the reserve and at the border patrol she knows no different. So, in terms of her wanting to go back to the reserve, I think that's not something she's even contemplating yet. I think she's really just trying to get over the hurdles and these crazy new lessons with the border patrol.

SCIFI VISION:   Is she maybe not looking out for her own safety enough through? There’s a part [where she gets in the car with someone dangerous]. I mean, is she maybe kind of not paying attention to some things she should? I think that would also play into Bernadette's rebellious personality for sure.

JESSICA MATTEN:   I think there's a part of her mind where she almost likes to play with fire, because she likes to exude power herself, and I think men don't necessarily frighten her, and yet, on a Native reserve you're going to deal with situations that are way more extreme and severe than what you would deal with on a daily basis in a city, and this is actual fact. So, for example historically speaking, our RCMP in Canada, which is like the FBI equivalent, they need a year of training on the Native reserve, because what they will experience in that entire year will be a lifetime of lessons that they will never see outside. So, just in terms of like contrast, I think there's a part of Bernadette that is desensitized from danger as well because of her upbringing, and that's why she is so bold and brash to hop into the car with Budge (Raul Max Trujilo) during the season and just see where it leads her, because she is fearless in a lot of ways, but this is her way of kind of invoking her own power with a very powerful man, if that makes sense.

SCIFI VISION:   Yeah, that makes sense. Talk about her love life this season. I mean, we still have Jim Chee a bit, but now we also have Ivan (Alex Meraz) so sort of tease a bit about where that is headed this season.

JESSICA MATTEN:   Yeah well Alex Meraz who's playing this new character, you know, obviously he was part of the original Twilight movie pack, and so was Kiowa, so when discussing their casting choices, I was talking to the executive producers, and I said, “Wouldn't it be so cool to have two of the original Twilight wolves in this love triangle?” So, it's also a throwback, not just to the Tony Hillerman fans, but anyone who was a fan of the Twilight series as well. I thought it would be really cool to have them as actors come and portray those characters.

I think the cool thing about both of their dynamics with Bernadette is that they both tap into vulnerable cracks within her as well, and because of the vulnerability that they bring to the table, I think it forces Bernadette's character to take a look at her own past traumas as well as a child and understand why she feels so betrayed, why she feels so blocked off. Why is she so defensive? [The] abandonment, betrayal, where is that fear coming from?

So, I feel like season three plays into a lot of the topics of betrayal for Bernadette that we delve into, and interestingly enough, I think there's a lot of parallels in Joe Leaphorn story too of why he is the way he is and the betrayals that he feels he's faced his entire life. So, although him and I have completely different storylines and completely different worlds this season, I think there is a common thread between the two characters that we explore.

SCIFI VISION:   Did you find anything difficult this season? I don't think you had a horse this time, at least not in the first ones. I know last time it didn't go so well [laughs], but was there anything that you found really difficult this year?

JESSICA MATTEN:   I think the physicality - you know, the way she's crossing the border, there's a physical element to that that was challenging as we film, you know, in the cold in the middle of the night, I think just the physicality of this character - in general, as an actor, I have to make sure that I'm always training my body like an athlete, not just physically but mentally and emotionally, just to keep up with the stamina that this job requires, and it's an absolute joy to be able to do that, but it is very disciplined in itself. So, I would just say not like such internal fear like what I did with the horses. This is more I would say external in terms of the physicality and just the environments and the kind of long hours we shoot and work. Yeah, I would just say the environmental elements really were the most challenging this season.

SCIFI VISION:   I just have an odd question. I was just curious, I know they probably usually work behind the scenes, but did you get to meet Robert Redford and George RR Martin, because I like that scene at the beginning [of the premiere].

JESSICA MATTEN:   Yeah, so that is kind of like a big cool reveal. I'm very fortunate that George Martin and his wife have become dear friends of mine over the last three years, and we have just a beautiful friendship and I’m so grateful for that. And Bob, what an honor. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would have the honor to be around him and his beautiful wife, Sybil, all the time. I mean, every time they're around, I just have this moment of being in awe, because, you know, I was a big Robert Redford fan. Oh my god, Hubble, you know, his character Hubble back in the Barbra Streisand movie, The Way We Were, the original The Great Gatsby, are you kidding me? So, to be able to spend time with them and see him in his element, he still has that x factor. I could tell you that for sure, and it's incredible. It's incredible magical.

…And I always think about that. I was just like, two legends face to face like that. You know, I was there. I went to stage even though I had no scenes that day, because I wanted to be a part of history. That really is history.

SCIFI VISION:   Do you have a favorite scene with Bernadette this season that you can talk about without teasing too much?

JESSICA MATTEN:   I really enjoyed across the border with Budge. The actor Raoul Trujillo in real life is like a stepfather to me in Hollywood, and we had originally met on another project ten years ago, and we've been working together again. He is an absolute talent and a joy, and again, someone else in my life I never thought would come in my world let alone family in a lot of ways. You know he was the bad guy in Apocalypto, Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, and that movie was so haunting to me. Never in my wildest dreams would I think that this person would become family to me, let alone getting an opportunity to work with him again. But there's this one shot where he was just so damn good, and the art production, they set up this restaurant where even the background and the wallpaper and the photo in the background echoed what his character was wearing. I always look out for that. I love cinematography so much. For that episode, we worked with one of my favorite directors, Michael Nankin again, and I just love it all. I'm so visual. I love the composition of the framing of that scene. I love just like the back-to-back thing that we had, even if we weren't saying words, the unspoken energy behind it, so I'm really excited to see how that scene plays out.