By One of the most anticipated TV launches in early 2024 is “True Detective: Night Country,” the fourth season of the venerated HBO anthology drama.
The new season sees celebrated Mexican filmmaker Issa Lopez teaming up with award-winning “Moonlight” helmer Barry Jenkins to tell a murder mystery story set in the Arctic. Meanwhile, original “True Detective” creator Nic Pizzolatto isn’t involved beyond a contractual executive producer credit.
It has long been assumed that Lopez and Jenkins collaborated to come up with a story pitch allowing them to use the “True Detective” brand with Lopez steering the series to come from it.
Now in a new report over at EW, Lopez has revealed that the project actually originated as an original murder mystery project she had been developing titled “Night Country” with no links to Pizzolatto’s show.
Instead, she says it was HBO who suggested it could become “True Detective” instead – an idea Lopez says never crossed her mind until it was suggested.
Once they agreed that “Night Country” would become “True Detective: Night Country,” Lopez says she had to recall “what connected so powerfully with so many people around the world, but at the same time, doing it in your own voice and making it your own.”
She adds that her approach was to not imitate the previous three seasons but did want to keep some staples intact – a character-driven story, two troubled and unconventional detectives, a strong emphasis on atmosphere, a dash of the supernatural and more. One element it doesn’t have, however, that was key to the first season – time jumps.
The series will take place in the small town of Ennis, Alaska during the long winter night, when eight men who work operating the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish with no explanation.
Detective Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) have to confront their own dark pasts and hidden truths in order to solve this Arctic mystery.
John Hawkes, Christopher Eccleston, Fiona Shaw, Finn Bennett, Anna Lambe, Aka Niviana, Isabella Star Lablanc, and Joel D. Montgrand also star in the new season which launches mid-January.
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