HBO is set to deliver the fifth season of True Detective at some point in the future, which will presumably be after the 2025 TV schedule has concluded, considering we don’t even know the cast or what the storyline will be, beyond the idea that it’ll loosely connect to how things went down in Night Country. And while Hollywood icon Matthew McConaughey will likely be watching, maybe don’t expect him to enjoy it more than the first season.
That occult-driven debut season of True Detective was a whirlwind success for HBO, and McConaughey and Woody Harrelson helped spark a new era of movie stars jumping ship to television. Promoting his first live-action role in six years for the upcoming 2025 movie The Rivals of Amziah King, McConaughey spoke with Variety about his highly influential small screen success when asked if he happened to watch Issa López’s True Detective: Night Country. As he put it:
I watched, I saw it. Yeah, there’s a lot about it that I appreciated. My favorite season — and I feel like I can say this objectively — is Season 1. I happen to be in that one, so I thought that was incredible, incredible television and a great series.
I love how the Interstellar star didn’t really namecheck anything specific that he appreciated about the season, which marked Jodie Foster‘s first big lead TV series role. Instead, he just gave it a blanketed compliment and then turned his complimentary attention to the HBO hit’s eleven-year old debut season. There’s about as much shame in his game as there is fruity-smelling soap inside Rust Cohle’s home.
Not that he stopped there or anything, as he had more praise to rain down on his own efforts. (To be sure, it’s noted that his tone was more tongue-in-cheek than obnoxiously self-important.) In his words:
I watched it weekly, like everyone else, on Sunday night, and that was an event for me. And I got to sit back and enjoy that. I loved the water cooler talk on Monday morning. Even though I made it, I sort of forgot what was going to happen next. It was one of the great events in TV.
As amusing as it is to hear Matthew McConaughey patting himself and his Season 1 colleagues on the back for bringing Nic Pizzolatto’s debut storyline to life, it’s also pretty aligned with how millions of viewers also feel. I can’t imagine there are more people that would disagree with him than those who would nod accordingly.
Season 1 contained all of kinds of weirdness mixed in with its gripping murder case, and McConaughey’s Rust Cohle could have delivered 100% of the exposition from his police interview and it still would have been must-watch TV. But with the rest of the talented ensemble mixed in with the brilliant direction from Cary Fukunaga, Season 1 quickly set a wildly high bar for the anthology series, and it’s one that arguably hasn’t been topped yet.
All four seasons can currently be streamed with a Max subscription, and I think there are arguments to be made for why Season 3 stands up to the first in certain ways, thanks to a stellar lead performance from Mahershala Ali. But Season 2 was too weighed down with its own sense of R-rated darkness, and Night Country’s story was a bit too meandering and repetitive to stand taller.
But if nothing else, I think Season 4 gave the world a catchphrase that’s just as practically repeatable as Season 1’s “Time is a flat circle.” Obviously I’m talking about the anti-mantra that Jodie Foster’s Liz Danvers often brings out during the investigation process:
You’re asking the wrong questions!
Here’s hoping Matthew McConaughey one day chooses to make the jump back to television for another season of True Detective, even if he won’t be reprising the mustachioed chain-smoker we knew before. And until we get a full cast list for Season 5 that confirms he’s not involved, I’ll continue to believe that it’s possible.
