Redford and Martin were featured in the episode as prison convicts playing a chess match. Martin’s character beat Redford’s in checkmate, with help from the show’s main character, Navajo tribal police officer Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon), reports the Mirror.
According to Vulture, Redford and Martin’s scene was shot on a closed set at Redford’s request. The show focuses on Navajo police officers during the 1970s.
Episode director Chris Eyre told Vulture that the idea for Martin and Redford’s cameos had been “in the air since the first season,” but confessed “just to be sitting there going, Oh, I’m gonna direct Robert Redford, struck fear in me.”
He went on, “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’.”
Before his TV appearance in March, Redford’s last big-screen performance was in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, where he returned to his character from 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Ahead of one of his final movies, 2018’s The Old Man and The Gun, Redford declared his retirement. Yet, at the film’s debut, he admitted to Variety that declaring his retirement “was a mistake.”
Redford, who was recognized for his environmental advocacy alongside his striking appearance, also helmed movies including Ordinary People, which earned him an Oscar, and A River Runs Through It. He additionally established the Sundance Film Festival, which has occurred yearly in Utah since 1978.
A statement from his publicist Cindi Berger, chairman and chief executive of talent agency Rogers and Cowan PMK, said: “Robert Redford passed away on September 16, 2025, at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah–the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved. He will be missed greatly. The family requests privacy.”
Fans have been expressing their grief over the loss of Redford, who starred in iconic films such as Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, All The President’s Men and The Sting. “RIP to Robert Redford, one of the most iconic American actors and all time handsome dude,” a fan tweeted as the news broke today.
Another fan shared a video of Redford speaking on stage, reflecting: “Not just a legendary actor but a pioneer of indie cinema and so much more. There’s no Sundance without Robert Redford. Seeing him at my very first of many, his last appearance too, cemented how iconic and special it was to be at that festival he created. Thank you Robert. RIP.”
