10 Best Shows Like Dark Winds You Need to Watch

Dark Winds has been a breath of fresh air, exploring the 1970s via a double murder in an eye-opening way, so let’s look at 10 other shows that you’re sure to love if you enjoyed Dark Winds.

True Detective

When you’re looking for a show similar to one that contains themes of crime, police work and psychological aspects, you can’t go past True Detective.

Each season focuses on a specific case run by different detectives, with the debut season seeing Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey taking on some grisly murders with strong occult references.

While I wasn’t a big fan of season two, season three saw masterful performances from both Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff while once again using the multiple timelines approach to flesh out the unsolved crime over many decades.

Sherwood

Just like Dark Winds, a double murder sends shockwaves through this fragile British community, still not fully healed from a miner’s strike nearly three decades previously.

Sherwood focuses on the irrationality of murder and the reasons why people kill, while also considering how tensions simmering under the surface will sometimes lead to violence if not properly addressed, or ignored for too long.

Sherwood also brilliantly portrays the conflicts that occur between the authorities and wider community.

While the police or prosecutors may be trying to do the right thing, past incidents of unwarranted oppression and intrusion make that trust hard to get back, stymying the investigation at critical moments.

Under the Banner of Heaven 

Following a devout detective as he is tasked with a murder case, Under the Banner of Heaven examines the shaking of a strong faith when presented by such brutality that one begins to question their belief in God.

Following the savage killing of a Mormon mother and her baby daughter, Detective Jeb Pyre begins to investigate links to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

As the cast of potential suspects expands, so does any hope of finding the murderers, but we also see a change come over Pyre as he has to deal with so many of his illusions being shattered, but he still attempts to cling to his faith.

A deeper conspiracy to murder scores of people for blood atonement leads to Pyre embarking on a desperate manhunt to prevent further murders.

The Sinner 

Similar to True Detective, The Sinner takes on a single case and runs with it for a whole season, focusing on Detective Harry Ambrose as he investigates murky cases that need extra effort to fully close.

This sees him uncovering more than he bargained for, with intricate webs of lies and mysteries popping up the deeper he digs.

The motives behind why people kill are the main focus of this story, and this empathetic look at crime gels perfectly with the themes of Dark Winds.

Evil

This 2019 series groups up a clinical psychologist with a novice priest and a laborer as they investigate paranormal events. Similar in style to The X-Files, the phenomena experienced appear at first to be supernatural, but deeper investigations reveal a different reality.

This series tries to explore the difference between what is real and imagined and leads the viewer down some complicated paths before the big reveal.

Its focus on teaming up a skeptic with a believer, and the heavy religious elements, make for an entertaining if slightly scary experience. However, just like in Dark Winds, the answer is not so obvious and you need to leave your preconceived notions behind to get to the truth.

Criminal Minds

This long-running series focuses on the  FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) as they chase serial killers, hoping to thwart their next murder.

Local police call in the BAU when a particularly violent crime with no suspects pops up, or when the crime is the suspected work of a serial killer.

Delving deep into seemingly unsolvable cases is the focus of Criminal Minds, and if you liked how a mystery is slowly unraveled like in Dark Winds, then the constant battle of wits between psychopathic killers and the controversial tactics of the BAU will be right up your alley.

The Shining Girls

Tracking the journey of archivist Kirby Mazrachi as she confronts her past, The Shining Girls teams up reporter Dan Velazquez with Mazrachi once she discovers a brutal murder case that is eerily similar to the attack that almost took her life.

The series is told from Mazrachi’s perspective, allowing you to uncover the mystery as the protagonist does. A similar style of storytelling is present in Dark Winds as you follow officers Leaphorn and Chee while they search for clues.

Shining Girls has a unique, time-shifting dynamic that is a device used to reveal the instability of Mazrachi, as even basic facts like what animal she has or that she is married are never quite clear. This of course only serves to further obfuscate what is going on.

Fargo 

Based on the Coen brothers’ film of the same name, the Fargo series tracks the at first seemingly random acts of violence motivated by greed, to eventually uncover a huge criminal organization that seems to know what the victims are going to do before they do.

Capturing all the best elements of the film while embarking on a different storyline, Fargo is full of deception, family betrayal, and mystery, with the constant fear of payback just around the corner.

With brilliant performances and some plot twists that you’ll never see coming, Fargo is a masterpiece set in the snow versus the desert backdrop of Dark Winds. However, don’t expect a lazy rehash of the 1996 film.

Silent Witness

An episodic series following crimes through the eyes of experts including forensic pathologists and forensic scientists, Silent Witness attempts to bring science to the crime scene in order to sniff out the killer.

The cases are never straightforward, with every new case being an original, well-constructed mystery. Unlike some other similar crime dramas, these are not inspired by the latest horrific killing or crime that has been in the media.

With 25 seasons since 1996, you’re unlikely going to finish watching it anytime soon, and the intrigue mixed with the realism brought due to the consultation with real murder squad detectives makes for compelling viewing.

Sharp Objects

Following Camille Preaker, an alcoholic reporter recently discharged from a psychiatric hospital, returns to her hometown in Missouri to investigate the murders of two young girls. 

The show is filled with psychological elements and some serious twists, so if you want a color-by-numbers TV drama this is not for you. But if you enjoyed the intrigue of Dark Winds, the ever-deepening mystery of Sharp Objects will also be right up your alley.

The performances by Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson are outstanding, and while the surrounding cast, writing, and acting are otherwise top-notch, these two would be able to carry the show anyway.