Few TV junkies would dispute that HBO’s first season of True Detective is one of the top seasons of all time. Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey brought their ongoing dynamic back together in a new way while leaning into one of the more eerie and carefully parceled out mysteries to ever grace television. We shall not discuss the second season, and the third one was an alright effort, although it was simply passable and not memorable. Fortunately, the fourth season — subtitled as Night Country — is here to restore order to the realm created by Nic Pizzolatto.
Interestingly enough, Pizzolatto is listed as an executive producer on this season, yet he appears to have largely stepped away from creative duties here. He’s not the showrunner, nor is he doing writing duties. Instead, Issa López steps up as showrunner, director, and writer/co-writer of the entire season. Six episodes will tell a supernatural-tinged story that critics have declared to be a return to greatness. Let’s get cracking.
Plot
If 30 Days Of Night came to mind regarding this season, the setting is doing its job. This season filmed in Iceland, which stands in for the fictional settlement of Ennis, Alaska, which is much like Barrow (which IRL is now referred to as “Utqiagvik”), i.e. the northernmost point in the United States. As portrayed in the show (although not quite like reality, in which the twilight-like Polar Night prevails), Ennis is plunged into utter darkness for a chunk of the year. That and the refusal of the terrain to thaw adds up to a recipe for violence and/or the supernatural, which might or might not be working together.
Speaking of partners, it’s ladies’ night in Ennis. The two central investigators of this story are Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis). They have a history and are drawn back together by an (extremely) cold case of a group of research scientists who were found frozen solid with their murders never solved. The detectives realize that the victims actually died before the cold got them. And this season, more than any other than the debut installment, leans into suggestions of the preternatural, but there’s no timer the ladies to worry about spookiness while fully leaning into the case.
From the HBO longline on this winter noir-land:
When the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, the eight men who operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace. To solve the case, Detectives Liz Danvers (Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Reis) will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves, and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice.
Cast
Harrelson and McConaughey are onboard as executive producers, although they have most certainly retired their first-season characters, Martin Hart and Rust Cohle, respectively. Foster and Reis are the lead detectives that do not appear to be thrilled about being partnered up again. Co-stars this season include Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve) as a survivalist against the harsh polar terrain, and Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who) as the community’s police chief. Additionally, Finn Bennett (The Nevers) will portray Danvers’ apprentice.
There’s more good news: John Freaking Hawkes (Deadwood, Martha Marcy May Marlene) will be here to possibly unsettle everyone (as a cranky detective) more than the darkness itself.
Release Date
The fourth season will debut on HBO (and stream on Max) on Sunday, January 14, 2024.
Trailer
HBO’s preview of this season looks chilly in multiple ways.