The fourth season of AMC’s hit show Dark Winds started with a jaw-dropping guest appearance by action star Linda Hamilton as Gordo Sena’s wife. The Terminator actor plays a character who is losing his memory, which adds emotional depth to a scene on the side of the road where Lt. Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) helps his friend fix a car that won’t start. This touching scene brings up themes of loss and retirement, which are similar to what Leaphorn has been going through since he and his wife Emma split up.

Showrunner John Wirth used the secret cameos by executive producers Robert Redford and George R.R. Martin in Season 3 to keep Hamilton’s role a secret until it aired. Wirth wrote the scene based on his own experiences with grief last year, and he and Steve Judd worked together to make it as real as possible. It’s not clear what Hamilton’s future appearances will be, but her connection to A Martinez’s Gordo Sena, who is a recurring guest star, opens up the possibility of more.

Dark Winds Season 4 takes place in the 1970s and follows Leaphorn, Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon), and Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten) as they search for a missing Navajo girl. They travel from the Navajo Nation to the rough streets of Los Angeles. The eight-episode arc is based on Tony Hillerman’s Leaphorn & Chee novels, and it’s Zahn McClarnon’s first time directing. The first episode, “Kǫ’Tsiitáá’ Álnééh (Baptism by Fire),” airs on AMC and AMC+ on Sundays.