Robert Redford makes surprise return to acting with 'Dark Winds' Season 3 cameo after 6-year hiatus
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: After six years off-screen, 88-year-old Robert Redford made a surprise cameo in the 'Dark Winds' Season 3 premiere. The AMC thriller is one he helps oversee as an executive producer, as reported by People.
Redford appeared alongside fellow producer George RR Martin in a scene where he portrayed a prison inmate playing chess, filmed on a closed set at his request.
Robert Redford returns to acting
The return marks his first acting appearance since 2019’s 'Avengers: Endgame', where he reprised his role as Alexander Pierce.
Set in the 1970s, the series follows Navajo police officers. According to 'Dark Winds' director Chris Eyre, the cameo, which aired Sunday night, was years in the making. It had been “in the air since the first season,” he told Vulture.
However, he admitted, just the thought of directing Robert Redford "struck fear in me."
He went on to say, “Bob is so kind and he was so nice on the day, and so was George. But I remember Zahn turning to me when we were about to start shooting and he goes, ‘You’re doing a scene with Robert Redford, that’s incredible,’ and I said, ‘Zahn, will you be quiet? You’re making me nervous.’”
Redford announced his retirement before one of his final films, 2018’s 'The Old Man & the Gun', but later admitted at the premiere that he regretted the statement.
“I should never have said that,” he told Variety. “If I’m going to retire, I should just slip quietly away from acting, but I shouldn’t be talking about it because I think it draws too much attention in the wrong way. I want to be focused on this film and the cast.”
Robert Redford hinted at possible return to acting in resurfaced 2018 interview
In a 2018 interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, the 'Butch Cassidy' and the 'Sundance Kid' star admitted that while he was “pretty committed” to retiring from acting, he wasn’t closing the door entirely. “Never say never,” he said, hinting that a return to the screen wasn’t impossible. Instead, he’s focused on directing, producing, and securing the future of his Sundance Institute.
“In my mind, I’m pretty committed to retiring from acting, and moving but not stopping just moving into new territory as a director and producer.”
Redford, 87, has long championed independent filmmaking through Sundance, which hosts the renowned Sundance Film Festival and offers labs and grants for emerging filmmakers. He revealed that the future of the institute now rests in the hands of his children.
The actor had four children with his first wife, Lola Van Wagenen, whom he was married to from 1958 until the 1980s. Their son Scott tragically died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome at just two months old, while filmmaker James Redford died from cancer at age 58 in 2020. Their daughters, Shauna, 64, and Amy, 54, both have careers in the arts.
Since 2009, Redford has been married to artist Sibylle Szaggars.
