True Detective (2014-)

[filmbuffTX]

‘True Detective’ Season 4 in the Works at HBO With Barry Jenkins

The potential season, dubbed ‘Night Country, is in early development and being penned by Issa Lopez.

True Detective is inching closer to a formal comeback at HBO — without creator Nic Pizzolatto at the helm.

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the premium cable network has recruited Issa Lopez (Tigers Are Not Afraid, Secondary Effects) to pen a script for a new cycle that has been dubbed True Detective: Night Country. Additionally, Barry Jenkins is attached to exec produce the anthology. Should season four move forward — it’s currently in development — Lopez would direct the pilot in addition to serving as an exec producer.

HBO declined comment as deals have not yet been formalized. Season one stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are expected to return as executive producers as they had been on all three previous seasons of the Emmy-winning HBO show. Jenkins, who moved his overall deal to HBO last April after a few years at Amazon, will exec produce via his Pastel banner with the company’s Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak also on board as EPs. Anonymous Content will again produce.

Pizzolatto will also likely be credited as an exec producer though he is not expected to formally involved in a fourth season. Pizzolatto, who created the anthology, sources previously told THR in January 2020 that the showrunner met with execs at HBO and all parties agreed that it was time to part ways. He inked his first overall pact with HBO pegged to the debut of True Detective and renewed that deal twice. HBO owns the rights to True Detective and, since Pizzolatto’s departure, left the door open to revisit the show with a new writer and central producer at the helm as it looks explore different points of view. (Pizzolatto, since leaving HBO, re-teamed with McConaughey for FX series Redeemer as part of an overall deal with the cabler. The series did not move forward and Pizzolatto negotiated an early exit from his FX pact.)

News of the True Detective revival comes as no surprise. HBO and HBO Max boss Casey Bloys told THR in February that “we’ve been developing various ideas” of the franchise.

Pizzolatto skyrocketed to fame after the star-studded first season broke out for HBO with 12 Emmy nominations. He took home the Emmy for writing as part of the show’s five wins for season one. The franchise, through three seasons, has earned more than 20 nominations.

Jenkins, for his part, spent years working on The Underground Railroad at Amazon under his first-look deal with the streamer. The Moonlight Oscar winner is repped by CAA, Jewerl Ross and attorney Jamie Feldman.

Lopez, repped by M88, Rand Holston and Hirsch Wallerstein, is an award-winning Mexican producer, writer and director. She’s developed projects with the likes of Guillermo Del Toro, Noah Hawley and Jason Blum. - THR

[HillSprinter]

Is it True Detective without Pizzolatto? I’m intrigued nonetheless.

[tcripe]

Originally Posted by HillSprinter

Is it True Detective without Pizzolatto? I’m intrigued nonetheless.

Curious to find out if it can retain that gritty feel. Will for sure check this out.

[Fiffy]

Originally Posted by HillSprinter

Is it True Detective without Pizzolatto? I’m intrigued nonetheless.

Well, Pizzolatto also wrote season 2, which - while not bad - wasn't nearly as strong as season 1. I think a good part of what made season 1 so great were the lead actors and their chemistry.

[Thieves Dont]

Originally Posted by HillSprinter

Is it True Detective without Pizzolatto? I’m intrigued nonetheless.

Also intrigued, and I’m willing to give it a shot. I will say that while I enjoyed season 3, it was obviously such a response to the second season that it almost felt forced in the way it was trying to be a return to the first season.

Think it’s time for some outside ideas on this one.

[Foggy]

Worth saying Issa Lopez’s Tigers Are Not Afraid is superb as well. Jenkins is great but I think he’ll only be consulting if he offers creative input at all.

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by Foggy

Worth saying Issa Lopez’s Tigers Are Not Afraid is superb as well. Jenkins is great but I think he’ll only be consulting if he offers creative input at all.

Yeah, he is only attached as producer, so I feel that his name in the title is a little misleading.

[avs commenter]

The steep drop off in quality after S1 is one of the most disappointing things in TV in the modern era

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by avs commenter

The steep drop off in quality after S1 is one of the most disappointing things in TV in the modern era

Season 3 is decent rebound though. I think they hadn’t really scored the identity of the series yet, so 2’s complete and utter departure felt completely untethered, with it’s ambitious outweighing it’s stretch. Season 3 managed to dial it back in with a proper character focus and an interesting tale of haunted failed cases, mortality and aging. It’s not quite on the level of the original series but it captures the same vibe with a little more maturity.

Looking back on this project, it would be fun if they managed to find a way to pivot the series into a template of hard boiled detective anthologies with each new season taking on a new up and coming “auteur” director. Let them bring the stories and shape it into a new instalment, as opposed to a committee piece over seen by HBO. It’s a shame Lopez is just doing a few at the start, it would be fun to see this play out the whole way through, and particularly grow the same way Season 1 did.

[kevin87]

Originally Posted by HillSprinter

Is it True Detective without Pizzolatto? I’m intrigued nonetheless.

Technically they're billing it more like a spinoff since it has a subtitle and the other three didn't.

[badfingerboogie]

No Nic?

I'm good, thanks. There's really no reason they couldn't just make this a project called Night Country and say it was inspired by the TD series, but of course HBO wants to milk the brand name now that Pizzollatto's deal with them is over.

[tcripe]

Originally Posted by avs commenter

The steep drop off in quality after S1 is one of the most disappointing things in TV in the modern era

Season 3 is good though. Not as good as season 1 obviously, but still very solid. Season 2 on the other hand.....

[avs commenter]

Originally Posted by tcripe

Season 3 is good though. Not as good as season 1 obviously, but still very solid. Season 2 on the other hand.....

I thought the first half of the season was excellent, then fell off a cliff and was totally forgettable.

[jedilips]

Mare of Easttown was the best season of True Detective since Season 1

[drb999]

Jodie Foster to Star

https://deadline.com/2022/05/true-de...bo-1235033965/

[tcripe]

Whelp looking like season 4 is moving forward. Very curious to see what the show is like without Nic at the helm.

[A Sith Lord?]

Originally Posted by tcripe

Whelp looking like season 4 is moving forward. Very curious to see what the show is like without Nic at the helm.

Season 1 and Season 3 had very very similar things going for it. Two old partners that had a falling out. Child kidnapping/trafficking. Powerful family with money behind the crime.

Season 2 is often the lesser liked by fans, but there was strong acting by all the main players.


Season 1 is just one of the best seasons of TV of any show ever. Not sure what they'll do to mix it up with Season 4.

[Dr. Seymour Love]

plot details

Season four of True Detective, dubbed Night Country, remains in the development stages though Foster’s casting certainly makes a formal series green light all but a given. Here’s how HBO describes True Detective: Night Country: “When the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, the six men that operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace. To solve the case, Detectives Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves, and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice.”

Foster will play Liz Danvers. Additional details about the character were not immediately available.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv...-4-1235154910/

[Sherman_Conley]

Originally Posted by Dr. Seymour Love

plot details



https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv...-4-1235154910/

I don't know, but for some reason, that description is giving me Fargo vibes. Maybe it's the frosty setting.

[BloodshotUSA]

I'm more interested in a True Detective season 4 without Nic Pizzolatto. After watching him do True Detective without Fukunaga and reading his book, he kind of felt like a one trick pony.