True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto reveals he has an idea for a new season that would reunite original stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. During an appearance on the podcast Nothing Left Unsaid, Pizzolatto discussed what he has in mind. He cautioned that nothing has been written yet, but he has talked to the two actors about possibly doing something down the line. According to him, McConaughey and Harrelson would be on board with making more True Detective. Pizzolatto didn’t share any specific plot details, though he noted the narrative would be “character-based” like it was before.
“I actually have another story for Cohle and Hart that — who knows? — maybe we’ll do it one day,” Pizzolatto said, referencing McConaughey and Harrelson’s characters Rust Cohle and Martin Hart. “It’s character-based again. … But it’s not something I’ve written or anything. It’s just, I had that in my head. And we’ve talked about getting back together and doing it, and I think the guys are open to it. It’s just a question of whether that would ever happen or not.”
McConaughey and Harrelson headlined True Detective Season 1, which earned considerable praise when it debuted in 2014. Both actors received nominations in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Serie category at the Emmys. Because True Detective follows an anthology format, neither actor has appeared in subsequent seasons; although, McConaughey and Harrelson did a riff on their characters for an advertisement highlighting the benefits of bringing film and TV productions to their home state of Texas.
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In McConaughey and Harrelson’s absence, True Detective has continued to go strong. Showrunner Issa Lopez is in the process of putting together the show’s fifth season, which will be set in a much different setting when compared to True Detective: Night Country. Though plot details are being kept under wraps, the idea is for True Detective Season 5 to be darker than what’s come before.
True Detective fans would likely be very interested in seeing McConaughey and Harrelson come back. Their chemistry was one of the reasons why that first season permeated through the zeitgeist, and it would be great to see their characters back together solving another case. Some still consider True Detective Season 1 to be the best the series has to offer, as it balanced compelling performances with captivating storytelling. It sounds like Pizzolatto’s new idea would follow a similar approach, so it would be worth exploring further. That McConaughey and Harrelson are game to return is an encouraging sign. After all the accolades True Detective Season 1 received, they likely wouldn’t want to jump back in that world unless it was something special.
Pizzolatto was critical of True Detective: Night Country, so it’ll be interesting to see if HBO would invite him back to spearhead a new season. It would also mark a change in direction for the traditional series format, deviating from the anthology setup to revisit pre-existing characters. Still, Night Country had numerous connections to True Detective Season 1, so there’s no rule that says every season needs to be completely standalone. Given how popular McConaughey and Harrelson’s season is over a decade later, HBO should be inclined to at least hear Pizzolatto out and see what he has in mind.
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