Jodie Foster and Kali Reis are Alaska police detectives with very little in common in the official True Detective Season 4 trailer.
HBO went public with a two-minute trailer this week, and it zeroes in on the fraught dynamic between the detectives as they face a series of gruesome crimes that have shocked a community.
For starters, multiple bodies are in an ice block, leading to plenty of media attention and intrigue.
How does one kill several people and leave them in an ice block for people to find?
Foster seems to be channeling Clarice Starling, one of her most iconic roles, for True Detective: Night Country, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
There’s an element of ambiguity about the mystery because there are plenty of tensions in the community as they’re trying to solve the crime.
The good news is that the series will zero in on the horror, and a particular scene in an ice cave will surely give you pause.
“When the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, the six men that operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace,” reads the logline.
“To solve the case, Detectives Liz Danvers (Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Reis) will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves, and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice.”
It’s a different direction for the franchise and could set the stage for future chapters.
True Detective Season 1 was a massive hit for HBO, but the next two seasons struggled to match up to the success, with many deeming them poor imitations of what came before.
That could be because the first season was as much of a buddy cop scenario as it was a murder mystery.
Starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, the series was spooky and mysterious, with the personal struggles of the characters as important, if not more so, than the mystery itself.
True Detective Season 2 had a sprawling cast, including heavyweights such as Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Vince Vaughn, and Kelly Reilly, but the story was confounding.
As a result, the series was remembered more for peculiar scenes (Vaughn in the desert, anyone?) than the story overall, which put a significant dent in the series.
True Detective Season 3 turned things around with a stellar and introspective mystery.
Mahershala Ali did incredible character work that season, with a surprising dramatic turn by his costar, Stephen Dorff.
Just when the series found its footing again, the world went haywire, and fans have been anxiously awaiting another installment of the HBO series.
The news so far is very good.
True Detective: Night Country comes from showrunner/writer/director/executive producer Issa López, with series creator Nic Pizzolatto sitting out of the upcoming season.
The promo certainly teases a different story than we’ve had, which could be the first step to a resurgence in popularity for the anthology series.
Switching things up is a surefire way to get fans’ attention back, and our first impression based on the marketing material is that it will be the can’t-miss show of 2024.
Despite initially being slated for a 2023 premiere, the series has been pushed to January 14, 2024.
Our best guess? The SAG-AFTRA strike will likely be over by then, allowing the cast to speak about the series.
The WGA strike officially ended this week, and with negotiations back underway next week with SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP, there’s a good chance a fair deal will be reached soon.
HBO is said to be fast-tracking the scripts for new seasons of Euphoria, The Last of Us, and The White Lotus to have episodes ready as quickly as possible.
The only HBO series unaffected by the strikes is House of the Dragon, which was already filming its second season, so the scripts were complete.
The actors were on a different contract because the show was filmed outside of the U.S.
Check out the promo for True Detective: Night Country below.
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
