Night Country

''True Detective: Night Country'' is the fourth season of ''True Detective'', an American anthology crime drama television series created by Nic Pizzolatto, which premiered on January 14, 2024, on HBO. The season is set in the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska, north of the Arctic Circle, during polar night. It follows the investigation of the disappearance of eight men from a research station. The season stars Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as Detectives Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro. It is the first season to carry a subtitle.

''Night Country'' was created by Issa López, who serves as showrunner, writer, and director. It is the first season without the involvement of Pizzolatto; however, he is still credited as an executive producer. ''Night Country'' received widespread acclaim from critics and received the highest viewership for the entire series, as well as the most viewed limited or anthology series for HBO in 2024.

The show was ranked amongst the top 10 television programs of the year by the American Film Institute, and garnered 19 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, becoming the most nominated season in the series. Foster won for Outstanding Lead Actress, while its other nominations included Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, Outstanding Supporting Actor (for Hawkes), Outstanding Supporting Actress (for Reis), Outstanding Directing and Writing (for Lopez). At the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, it received three nominations including for the Best Limited or Anthology Series or Television Film, with Foster winning Best Actress.

Production

Development

Initially, Nic Pizzolatto was directly involved in a fourth season of ''True Detective'', but ultimately Issa López would be selected as showrunner, writing and directing the whole season. Pizzolatto remained as an executive producer, marking his first season without a writing credit.

Before the release of the third season, Pizzolatto explained that he had a "really, really wild" idea for a potential fourth season. After the season finished airing, he explained that he decided to drop his idea, intending to use a new idea after discussing the project with an unnamed actor. In July 2019, Casey Bloys, HBO president of programming, explained that "If Nic has an idea that he is excited about, we will talk about it but not rushing into anything."

In January 2020, Pizzolatto signed an overall production deal with Fox 21 Television Studios and FX Productions, putting into question his involvement in a potential fourth season. By the next year, HBO began exploring ideas for a fourth season with other writers, including Lucía Puenzo and Sam Levinson. Bloys later said, "There's something in the ''True Detective'' area, there's things we're feeling good about. I would say stay tuned on that one."

In March 2022, HBO announced that a fourth season had entered into development, which would carry a subtitle, ''Night Country'', a first for the series. López would write and direct, and also executive produce the season alongside Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak. In June 2022, HBO officially greenlit the season, with López serving as showrunner.

When preparing season 4, subtitled ''Night Country'', director and writer Issa López chose to create a "dark mirror" of the first season: "Where ''True Detective'' is male and it's sweaty, ''Night Country'' is cold and it's dark and it's female." In an interview with ''The A.V. Club'', López credited John Carpenter's '' The Thing'', the Overlook Hotel from '' The Shining'', and the spacecraft ''Nostromo'' from '' Alien'' as inspiration. She said (to HBO), "Guys, me being who I am, I'm going to tap into that and go for it," referring to the supernatural elements of ''True Detective''s first season, which has Carcosa and the Yellow King. López has also cited the Dyatlov Pass incident and ''Mary Celeste'' as inspirations for the season.

Another inspiration was Billie Eilish's 2019 song "Bury a Friend", which López described as "such a dark, moody, fun, sinister little song that I thought it could absolutely work." It was used to score ''Night Country''s title sequence. López started to listen to Eilish during the COVID-19 lockdown, when she wrote the season, and noticed how similar in theme "Bury a Friend"s lyrics were. In a 2019 interview, Eilish said she wrote the song from the perspective of the monster under the bed. López was recorded to say "It's perfectly possible that the events of the show happened because I was listening to Billie."

Casting

In May 2022, Jodie Foster was confirmed to star in the season, marking her first adult TV role and her first starring role in a TV series since 1975. Foster described her character, chief Danvers, as awful; an "Alaska Karen".

In June 2022, it was reported that Kali Reis would join Foster as co-lead, in a role originally conceived as Latina and as a "hardass" military veteran.

In September 2022, it was reported that John Hawkes, Christopher Eccleston, Fiona Shaw, Finn Bennett, and Anna Lambe would also appear in the season. In October 2022, Aka Niviâna, Isabella Star LaBlanc and Joel D. Montgrand joined the season. Eccleston stated, "I'd never have taken such a small part if it wasn't for Jodie. l my scenes are with her, and she's been a heroine of mine for many years."

Filming

The season was filmed in Iceland and Alaska with a budget of $60 million. Filming began in November 2022 and wrapped in April 2023. The conditions included nighttime shoots at , with director López commenting, "I'm Mexican, so I'm really not fond of the cold." She said that viewers would find the environment authentic "because we were there, because the actors were cold, because the filmmakers were cold."

Cast

Main cast

* Jodie Foster as Chief Liz Danvers
* Kali Reis as Trooper Evangeline Navarro
* Fiona Shaw as Rose Aguineau
* Finn Bennett as Officer Peter Prior
* Isabella Star LaBlanc as Leah Danvers
* Christopher Eccleston as Captain Ted Connelly
* John Hawkes as Captain Hank Prior

Recurring cast

* Dervla Kirwan as Kate McKitterick
* Anna Lambe as Kayla Malee
* L'xeis Diane Benson as Bee
* Aka Niviâna as Julia Navarro
* Joel D. Montgrand as Eddie Qavvik
* Owen McDonnell as Raymond Clark
* Nivi Pedersen as Annie Kowtok
* Erling Eliasson as Travis Cohle
* Donnie Keshawarz as science teacher Adam Bryce

Episodes

Release

A first look was unveiled in December 2022 during an HBO sizzle reel. In April 2023, the first trailer for the season was released.

The fourth season premiered on January 14, 2024. It was originally intended to premiere in 2023.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it premiered on Sky Atlantic on January 15, 2024.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 92% based on 206 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Frighteningly atmospheric and anchored by Jodie Foster and Kali Reis' superb performances, ''Night Country'' is a fresh and frosty variation on ''True Detective''s existential themes." On Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 81 out of 100 based on 47 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

David Bianculli of NPR deemed ''Night Country'' the best entry of ''True Detective'' since season one, comparing its focus on the direction, mood, acting and writing. ''USA Today'' Kelly Lawler agreed, saying it is "as excellent as, and perhaps transcends, that striking first season a decade ago." Lucy Mangan of ''The Guardian'' deemed ''Night Country'' the best season of ''True Detective'', writing, "At last, this show drops the bloated, male-dominated stories of earlier series for an icy murder case in Alaska – with blistering turns from Foster and Kali Reis." Caryn James wrote for the BBC that Lopez "created a fierce, absorbing, richly imagined new show of her own." In the ''Slant Magazine'' review, Ross McIndoe sums up: "Like the best seasons of ''True Detective'', ''Night Country'' thrives on its ability to exist as both a brisk, thrilling genre piece and a weighty, philosophical drama."

Inkoo Kang writing for ''The New Yorker'' considers the season to be "a feminist revision of a series best known for its macho poetry and its ogling eye" and that López "transforms ''True Detective'' from a lot of mystical mumbling into a show with something to say". Alison Herman of ''Variety'' wrote that Lopez's take on the anthology series invigorated the "hardened female cop in a blue-collar community" archetype by placing it in a new context. Kristen Baldwin of ''Entertainment Weekly'' praised Foster's performance for eschewing cliché and rendering a "mesmerizing and often-hilarious antihero."

Adam Graham of ''The Detroit News'' commended Foster's "full detective mode" performance and the contrast offered by Reis but wrote, "Some of its supernatural underpinnings lead to dead ends and López is sometimes at odds with herself over the direction of her storytelling." CNN's Brian Lowry similarly felt the performances and chemistry between Foster and Reis worked "reasonably well", but criticized the slow pacing as the season's ultimate failure.

In a mixed review, Mike Hale of ''The New York Times'' wrote: "The mystery steadily dissolves into preposterousness, the characters sink into incoherence, and the horror isn't original or evocative enough to carry things on its own." Dylan Roth of Observer.com wrote, "While ''Night Country'' offers plenty of intrigue on the macro level, the individual characters and relationships are more grim than they are engaging. Everyone has texture, but no one has chemistry." Nina Metz of the ''Chicago Tribune'' believed the "blunt" traits of the leads were ultimately "stand-ins for character development".

Nic Pizzolatto received attention for his criticism of the fourth season where he claimed its connections to earlier seasons "so stupid" and wrote "can't blame me" for its perceived weaknesses. He later deleted his comments after getting backlash from fans, but after the finale of the season decided to again double down on his criticisms by sharing several negative opinions of other users of social media. This prompted Paul MacInnes writing for ''The Guardian'' to describe it as "Nic Pizzolatto throwing a tantrum over his own show," while ''Vulture'' writer Roxana Hadadi noted how season 4's reception by critics compares favorably to Pizzolatto's own seasons 2 and 3. Responding to Pizzolatto's negative comments, showrunner López stated:

Accolades

References

External links

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{{True Detective

2024 American television seasons
Christmas television series
Fiction about patricide
Inuit television series
New Year fiction
Television series set in 2023
Television series set in 2024
Television shows about Native Americans
Television shows filmed in Iceland
Television shows set in Alaska
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