True Detective Season 4: Returning to the Horror Roots of Season 1

The Return to Horror Roots

True Detective season 4, also known as True Detective: Night Country, will be returning to the horror roots of season 1. The debut season of the mystery anthology show followed detectives Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson) plumbing the depths of a mystery that potentially involved a group of people attempting to invoke a Lovecraftian entity known as the Yellow King via a mysterious place called Carcosa. While the following two seasons told less supernatural mystery stories with new stars, season 4, which is set in the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska, promises a return to form.

Jodie Foster as Danvers and Kali Reis as Navarro stare into a snowy landscape in True Detective season 4

True Detective season 4 showrunner, writer, and director Issa L\u00f3pez was the guest on a recent episode of The Kingcast. Before diving into a discussion on Stephen King, she talked about her desire to return the show to its horror-inflected roots. L\u00f3pez says 'that's my favorite thing,' referring to the question whether the horror elements in season 1 were real, revealing that she wants viewers to question whether her characters are 'affected by the long night' and 'losing their minds.'

Issa L\u00f3pez's Vision for True Detective

L\u00f3pez shared her conscious decision to bring back the horror elements of the show, stating that it is absolutely how her mind works. She expressed her excitement about the opportunity to work on True Detective and her immediate thought of bringing back the horror of the first season. She highlighted the mysterious place Carcosa and the Yellow King as her favorite elements, expressing that she missed them in the subsequent seasons.

The showrunner emphasized the delicate dance between the real and the supernatural, leaving it up to the viewers to decide the nature of the events. L\u00f3pez's desire to explore the thin veil between our world and what's beyond, and the potential impact on the characters, hints at a deeply psychological and supernatural narrative in the upcoming season.

Why Issa L\u00f3pez is the Perfect Person to Bring True Detective Back to Horror

The True Detective season 4 trailer reveals that Night Country is already embracing classic horror tropes by taking place in a setting where the winter sun sets and leaves the town shrouded in darkness for far longer than a single typical night. The mysterious disappearance of a group of people and the possibility of supernatural interference sets a perfect stage for L\u00f3pez's vision.

L\u00f3pez's background in horror, as seen in her previous work such as Tigers Are Not Afraid, and her choice of performers who are veterans of the genre, including Jodie Foster, Fiona Shaw, and Christopher Eccleston, suggest a strong creative team assembled to bring back the iconic tone that made True Detective a hit in the first place.