Titus Welliver Talks Dark Winds: A New Role After Bosch

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Titus Welliver is stepping into a new chapter of his career with .

In the Western crime drama, Welliver portrays Dominic McNair, a cold-blooded criminal leader – a stark contrast to his popular role as the honorable Harry Bosch. As a key player in the world of Dark Winds, McNair runs a smuggling operation dealing in drugs and stolen items through Los Angeles, which brings him into direct conflict with the Navajo Tribal Police.

Although his role in Dark Winds is new, working on the show feels like a satisfying culmination for actor Welliver. He was thrilled to finally collaborate with Zahn McClarnon, someone he’d hoped to work with for years. They almost connected on the Bosch series, but that opportunity didn’t pan out until now.

In a recent interview with ScreenRant’s Grant Hermanns, Welliver discussed how a previous opportunity didn’t align with the schedule at the time. He shared that this makes working together now even more special.

I’ve been a fan of Zahn McClarnon’s work for years, so I was thrilled when he was cast. I’d always wanted to work with him. Funnily enough, a character appeared in one of the Bosch books – a Native American police officer and an old friend of Harry’s – and I immediately thought of Zahn. But he’d just been cast in Dark Winds, so we had to rewrite the character in our show to find someone else.

Welliver explained that he received a call about the role on Dark Winds, and as a longtime fan of the books, he immediately accepted the opportunity.

When I heard about season four, I immediately said yes – I’m a huge fan of the show and didn’t even need to know the character details! I was excited from the start. This version of McNair is a bit different from the book, but after talking with John Wirth about his plans, I found the character incredibly compelling. McNair is a powerful, calculating man – a real shark – and even though he’s in prison, he’s still pulling the strings. He exerts control through Irene Vaggan, played by Franka Potente, who is a truly terrifying force. I was eager to start filming. Usually, these conversations with John are about the writers’ vision, and asking for my input. But we really bounced ideas off each other, and the character was so well-written that it felt like all I had to do was bring him to life.

McNair wielded significant power, even managing operations from inside prison, and at times directly ordering hits and attempting to silence anyone connected to the main investigation. Actor Raymond Welliver, who portrays the character, described this level of control as something he personally doesn’t relate to, comparing it to “almost like a drug” for McNair – a source of intense gratification and control.

For a character like McNair, operating outside the law and getting away with it must be incredibly addictive. He benefits hugely, not just in terms of power, but financially – we’re talking about a lot of money. The scenes I got to do with Zahn were fantastic because the director asked me what I thought the first meeting between our characters was about. I saw it as two wolves sizing each other up, not a display of bravado. Both McNair and Leaphorn are highly skilled in their own ways. Leaphorn is a fundamentally good man, but he’s not someone you want to cross – he’s incredibly capable. There’s a strange understanding that often exists between criminals and good police officers – a mutual respect for each other’s abilities and a willingness to see how things play out.

We experimented with the scene quite a bit, refining the technical aspects to achieve the desired effect. It wasn’t about a back-and-forth power play, but rather Leaphorn asserting his authority while fully understanding who he was dealing with. McNair, in turn, was assessing Leaphorn, trying to gauge how far he would go. It quickly became clear that Leaphorn wasn’t just a typical officer relying on procedure; he was someone unpredictable and assertive, someone who operated on his own terms. That dynamic made for some really compelling and enjoyable scenes to perform.

Dark Winds airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC and AMC+.

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2026-04-01 02:40