The anthology crime thriller “True Detective” is back with a fourth season subtitled “Night Country.” Led once again by director Cary Joji Fukunaga of the show’s legendary debut, “Night Country” places Jodie Foster in the leading role of a six-episode script. Written by Hollywood newcomer Issa López, this season aims to be a return to form after the poor reception of the previous two seasons.
López called “Night Country” her “dark mirror” of the first season, saying, “Where ‘True Detective’ is male and it’s sweaty, ‘Night Country’ is cold and it’s dark and it’s female.” In a recent interview with Collider, López told fans of the first season to be on the lookout for easter eggs and connections, but not to expect a direct continuation of season one.
“It is the same universe,” she said, “It is its own story, but it’s still connected.”
“Night Country” follows Detective Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Trooper Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) as they work to uncover the secrets behind the sudden disappearance of eight men from an Alaskan research station.
In the same way the first season was inspired by literary interpretations of H. P. Lovecraft’s Weird Fiction tales, López says the story for “Night Country” was inspired by film retellings of classic horror tales. She cited John Carpenter’s “The Thing” and Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” as her inspirations while writing.
López also hopes to evoke the same isolated atmosphere as Ridley Scott’s “Alien” and the true story of the still-unsolved 1959 Dyatlov Pass incident in Russia in which nine soviet hikers died under mysterious circumstances during a winter trek.
“True Detective” started the trend of starring silver screen actors for limited-run series by casting Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. The story, heavily inspired by Robert Chamber’s 1895 novel “The King in Yellow,” was written by Nic Pizzolatto. Initially envisioning his story as a novel, Pizzolatto realized its unique themes were better suited for television.
The first season was—and remains to be—hailed as some of the best television to exist. It is often cited as one of the reasons multi-episode television series have become more popular than theatrical adaptations.
The two seasons following the series debut, however, did not live up to the expectations placed by the first season. Rotten Tomatoes gave a “Certified Fresh” rating of 91% for the first season of “True Detective.”
The score dropped to an abysmal 47% for the second season, which multiple entertainment news outlets labeled one of the worst television programs of 2015. The show’s third season fared better with critical reviews but had the lowest viewership of the series.
Subsequently, fans of the show assumed 2017 was the death of the series, and for good reason; the show slipped into obscurity until early this year when “Night Country” aired on January 14.
So far, the show has jumped to an astounding seven million viewers between episodes one and two compared to season one’s two million. This season also has the highest critical reviewer scores the series has ever seen.
Will this be “True Detective’s” revival back to the lofty heights of its first season, or will it slide once again under the ice? “Night Country” is streaming on Max where new episodes will air every Sunday night until the season’s finale on February 25.