‘True Detective’ Renewed for Season 5 at HBO with Issa López to Return

Brian Welk
·2 min read
2

HBO has renewed “True Detective” for a fifth season, and the network has signed showrunner Issa López to a new multiyear overall deal with HBO in which she will return for Season 5 and will create other content exclusive to HBO and Max.

“True Detective: Night Country,” which stars Jodie Foster and Kali Reis, has been the most watched season of the crime series yet, with 12.7 million cross platform viewers. The series had its finale on February 18.

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No casting announcements have been made for Season 5.

“Issa López is that one-of-a-kind, rare talent that speaks directly to HBO’s creative spirit. She helmed ‘True Detective: Night Country’ from start to finish, never once faltering from her own commendable vision, and inspiring us with her resilience both on the page and behind the camera,” Francesca Orsi, EVP of HBO Programming and Head of HBO Drama Series and Films, said in a statement. “Alongside Jodie and Kali’s impeccable performances, she’s made this installation of the franchise a massive success, we are so lucky to have her as part of our family.”

“From conception to release, ‘Night Country’ has been the most beautiful collaboration and adventure of my entire creative life,” López said in a statement. “HBO trusted my vision all the way, and the idea of bringing to life a new incarnation of ‘True Detective’ with Casey, Francesca and the whole team is a dream come true. I can’t wait to go again.”

Issa Lopez<cite>CHINO LEMUS (C)</cite>
Issa LopezCHINO LEMUS (C)

Originally created by Nic Pizzolatto and starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in its first season, “Night Country” took the formula of “True Detective” and flipped it on its head, casting two female leads in the role of detectives investigating a string of gruesome murders. After the show faltered in its second and third seasons, IndieWire recently wrote that López’s “Night Country” succeeds because it not only evokes the first season, it comments on it.

Here’s the full synopsis for Season 4: 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 (Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves, and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice. The season stars Jodie Foster, Kali Reis, Finn Bennett, Fiona Shaw, with Christopher Eccleston, Isabella Star LaBlanc, and John Hawkes. Guest stars include Anna Lambe, Aka Niviana, and Joel D. Montgrand.

Pizzolatto, who is listed as an executive producer on “Night Country,” recently took to social media to criticize the series’ new direction, saying that he had nothing to do with its creation 10 years removed from the original series. López however took his comments in stride, saying the show is a “reinvention” of his original premise.

“True Detective: Night Country” has López serving as showrunner, writer, director, and executive producer. Foster both stars and executive produces, and the series is also executive produced by Mari Jo Winkler; Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, and Mark Ceryak for PASTEL; Chris Mundy; Alan Page Arriaga; Steve Golin; Richard Brown; Matthew McConaughey; Woody Harrelson; Cary Joji Fukunaga; Nic Pizzolatto. The producers of Season 4 are Princess Daazhraii Johnson; Cathy Tagnak Rexford; Sam Breckman.

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