In the wake of the release of Dark Winds Season 4, showrunner John Wirth has discussed changes to the new season’s villain, Irene Vaggan, played by Franka Potente. In a recent interview, Wirth opened up about the ruthless antagonist, shedding light on her origins, motivations, and why he chose to change the character’s gender from the books.
John Wirth reveals why he switched Vaggan’s gender in Dark Winds Season 4
While speaking with Collider, the veteran television producer broke down Vaggan’s WW2-set backstory before discussing the changes he made from Tony Hillerman’s Leaphorn & Chee novels in the season.
“She’s a sociopath. And a psychopath. I mean, she’s demented. I used to have fun with Franka; when I would see her, I would say, ‘Dr. Demento!'” Wirth noted.
He continued, “In the book, Vaggan was a man, and he was just too close to Colton Wolf. And I thought Nick [Logan] was spectacular as that character, and I just didn’t want to bring in another big, hulking white dude to be the bad guy. We decided to make Vaggan a woman, and then there were lots of discussions of what kind of woman she would be, what kind of woman in 1972 would have that job.”
Having been born in “Germany during World War II,” Vaggan now lives with her grandfather, who “was a Nazi” just like her father.
Wirth also provided some insight into the motivations of Franka Potente’s Dark Winds Season 4 character. “She had been fixated with Native Americans and the whole life of the Southwest and warriors,” he noted. “It got her through the tough days of the war, and then her family emigrated to South America, and then they ended up in California, and suddenly, she finds herself on the reservation working and lays eyes on Joe Leaphorn — and there is the man of her dreams. The fantasy come to life. There he is in the flesh. From that moment on in the story, her obsession starts to build, and it plays out in a really kooky way.”
Based on Hillerman’s The Ghostway book, Dark Winds Season 4 premiered on February 15. The season’s remaining seven episodes will premiere over the subsequent Sundays.
Originally reported by Apoorv Rastogi on ComingSoon.
