9 months ago
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Great news for all of the True Detective: Night Country fans out there! The 4th season of the anthology series, which concluded last Sunday, has officially been renewed for a fifth season with its new showrunner Issa López returning at the helm. Season four of Night Country starred Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as the two lead detectives. It was also the most-watched season of the show, with around 12 million people watching each episode. There’s no official release date, casting news, or plot yet, but it’s happening!
HBO on Issa’s return: “Issa Lopez is that one-of-a-kind, rare talent that speaks directly to HBO’s creative spirit. She helmed ‘True Detective: Night Country’ from start to finish, never once faltering from her own commendable vision, and inspiring us with her resilience both on the page and behind the camera. Alongside Jodie and Kali’s impeccable performances, she’s made this installation of the franchise a massive success.”
Will Foster and Reis return? “‘True Detective’ is an anthology series, so chances are the next installment will be with somebody else. Who knows who that’ll be?” Foster said during a sit-down interview with Reis earlier this year. “But maybe they’ll bring us on as extras or something.”
“Kind of like an Easter Egg,” laughed Reis. (Season One character Rust Cohle’s father, Travis Cohle, made an appearance in Season Four).
A cold but fun shoot: Either way, the pair said that the experience of working together was something they’d happily repeat, despite the fact that filming lasted seven months and took place in Iceland (not Alaska) during some of the coldest months of the year. “It is cold, but I think it helps put you in the place,” said Foster. “It helps you understand who the people are in this isolated community and how isolated they are from each other and from the rest of the world.”
At times, the frigid temperatures made it difficult for the actors to say their lines. Reis said she sometimes struggled to get words out while shooting “True Detective” scenes outside. “But it adds to the character and the whole story because the cold is a character,” said Reis.
Jodie compares it to Silence of the Lambs: “I think ‘Silence of the Lambs’ is the closest experience that I’ve ever had to this,” said Foster. “Where you jump on something because you love the material so much and everybody jumps on and does their best work because they respond to the material and the depth of it. And then you do the best work of your life. I really felt like that’s what was happening.”
Will Season 4’s mysteries ever be answered? After wrapping on Feb. 18, the final episode of Season Four solves some mysteries and leaves others intact. Navarro, for example, appears alongside Danvers at the very end of the finale. Minutes earlier, she was seen walking into the frozen Alaska tundra. Was Navarro a ghost? Or did Navarro manage to avoid the fate of her mother and sister, escaping the oppressive town limits of Ennis for a more peaceful existence instead? Reis tells TODAY.com that it’s up to viewers to decide. “You have enough evidence to go either way, but it’s up to the audience to choose,” says the actor on the ending.
The tongue of it all: And what about Annie Kowtok’s tongue? How did it end up at the Tsalal research outpost, six years after her murder? “That’s a great mystery. There’s a few things that could have happened to it,” says Reis. Those, and other burning questions, will likely remain unanswered. According to Reis, López intentionally left “True Detective: Night Country” vague to let viewers decide what happened for themselves. “It’s not very permanent. It’s very open, which I like a lot,” Reis says.
Honestly, I’m genuinely excited to see what López does next. I don’t need or want the next season to be a continuation of this one, so I’m relieved that they’re keeping that format. I’ve watched every season of True Detective, even the very ‘meh’ second one. I was enthralled by the first one and really enjoyed the third. I binged all of Night Country except for the finale last weekend, pausing to read reviews and theories in between each episode. I watched the last episode this weekend. Although I’ve heard that fans are mixed on the season as a whole, I loved it. It had a great mix of both the supernatural and the ordinary. I really enjoyed that they returned to that same type of storytelling as Season one, even including Rust Cohle’s father’s ghost as an easter egg tying the two seasons together. Overall, I was satisfied with the ending.
I’m in the camp that Issa did a great job landing the plane. I think the funniest/stupidest/dumbest timeline part of this news is that creator Nic Pizzolatto has been throwing a hissy fit all season long that a *girl* ruined his precious show. Never mind that he basically got kicked off it because he was a total a–hole to work with. Like, whatever, dude. Cry more, Nicky. It feels like the Venn Diagram of the people criticizing Night Country on Nic’s behalf and the people who pay for blue check marks on Twitter is one big circle.
https://t.co/27n8WiLIRO pic.twitter.com/4JLoD9GJtS
— Maggie Lovitt (@maggieofthetown) February 22, 2024
