Every ‘True Detective’ Season, Ranked
The sophomore slump is a phenomenon all TV shows with breakout first seasons are in danger of experiencing. But maybe no show has ever sophomore slumped harder than HBO’s “True Detective.”
In January 2014, when the anthology series first premiered telling the offbeat story of Louisiana police investigating the murder of a young woman, “True Detective” was immediately hailed as one of the best shows of the (still barely begun) year. Nic Pizzolatto’s detective drama was a surprising, unconventional, philosophical story dressed in the conventions of a typical murder mystery, and proved intensely ambitious in its attempts to explore questions of religion, masculinity, and human nature. The universal acclaim powered it to several Emmy nominations, and the show — one of many seasonal anthologies of the time like “Fargo” and “American Horror Story” — seemed like the next great prestige TV hit.
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Then, the show’s second season, following a California missing persons case and the overlapping work of three police officers (played by Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, and Taylor Kitsch) premiered in June 2015. Immediately upon its premiere, the muddled and confusing season seemed to kill the show’s momentum, receiving critical scorn and divisive reactions from fans. If the season isn’t as bad as it seemed compared to its predecessor, it still wasn’t what was needed to turn the first outing into a continuing phenomenon.
Since its first season, “True Detective” has never quite managed to again obtain the heights of acclaim and attention its debut run received. But it continued with a delayed third season in 2019, four years after Season 2. That installment, with Mahershala Ali in the lead role, was excellent but largely went under the radar, and the show again disappeared. When it resurfaced again this year, it came back in a new form; subtitled “Night Country,” Season 4 of the series was handed off to writer Issa López, and pivoted from the show’s sweaty southern stories to an arctic tale centering a female detective duo played by Jodie Foster and Kali Reis. It was a change that prompted some grumblings from fans of the show, and Pizzolatto (still credited as an executive producer) has made it no secret that he doesn’t approve of the show being continued without his involvement.
But “Night Country” managed to do what Seasons 2 and 3 of the anthology failed to do: bring the series back into the limelight, with critical praise and healthy viewership. It’s unclear where the series will go after “Night Country;” one can imagine the franchise becoming a platform for creators to drop in for a season with their own takes on the format, rather than the auteur series anchored by one perspective it originally was. Regardless of your feelings on that change, “Night Country” certainly stands on its own as a thought-provoking, memorable, and riveting season of television, and an installment worthy of carrying the “True Detective” name.
With the sun finally risen on “Night Country,” IndieWire has decided to take stock of the seasons of HBO’s mystery anthology to determine what stands out as the all-time greatest. Read on for our list of the show’s four seasons, ranked from worst to best.
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