‘True Detective’ S4 Showrunner Issa López Not Bothered By Show Creator’s Digs

Issa López, the showrunner for HBO’s True Detective: Night Country, has responded to disparaging comments by the anthology series’ creator, Nic Pizzolatto by taking the high road.

In an interview with Vulture López —who has directing and writing credits on the fourth season’s six episodes— said Pizzolatto’s disparaging remarks are “his prerogative.

“I believe that every storyteller has a very specific, peculiar, and unique relation to the stories they create, and whatever his reactions are, he’s entitled to them,” said López. That’s his prerogative. I wrote this with profound love for the work he made and love for the people that loved it. And it is a reinvention, and it is different, and it’s done with the idea of sitting down around the fire, and [let’s] have some fun and have some feelings and have some thoughts. And anybody that wants to join is welcome.”

Pizzolatto created and wrote the first season of True Detective, which aired in 2014. The first season was a hit, but Pizzolatto’s second was universally panned, and the third season did just a bit better.

True Detective: Night Country debuted on HBO on January 14, nearly five years after the series last aired. Though they had no direct involvement in Night Country, Pizzolatto, Matthew McConaughey, and Woody Harrelson are all credited as executive producers on the season. The latest edition has been well-received and highly rated.

Pizzolatto apparently isn’t happy. When Night Country premiered, Pizzolatto changed his Instagram bio to read “True Detective S1-3 (NOT Night Country).”

Instagram comments by him also cut deeply.

“I certainly did not have any input on this story or anything else,” he allegedly wrote in another comment. “Can’t blame me.”