True Detectivestar Matthew McConaughey shares his honest thoughts onNight Countryand reveals which season is still his favorite. Created by Nic Pizzolatto, HBO’s anthology crime drama premiered in 2014, with season 1 following McConaughey’s Rust Cohle and Woody Harrelson’s Marty Hart as they investigate a series of murders over several decades in Louisiana. After an acclaimed debut outing, laterseasons ofTrue Detectivewere met with more mixed receptions, including season 4, subtitledNight Country, which hailed from showrunner Issa López and starred Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as detectives in Alaska.
In a recent interview withVariety, McConaughey shares some brief thoughts onTrue Detective: Night Country, saying that he “appreciated” elements of it.The actor says that it’s still season 1 that is his favorite, though, and he calls the eight-episode debut “one of the great events in TV.” Check out McConaughey’s full comment below:
“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 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.”
What McConaughey’s Review Means For True Detective
Night Country Was Divisive
It’s a common sentiment thatTrue Detectiveseason 1 is the best. Season 2 reviews were mixed and season 3’s generally better, but neither season quite recaptured the sensation that was season 1. WhenNight Countrypremiered and reviews emerged, though, it was widely hailed as the best season of the show since the debut in 2014. As seen in the chart below,Night Countryreviewswere glowing from critics, butthe audience response was far more mixed:
1
92%
91%
2
47%
30%
3
84%
58%
93%
56%
Despite a vocal outpouring of negativity towardsNight Countryonline,it still stands as the most-watched season ofTrue Detective. Combined with the positive critical consensus, HBO opted to greenlightTrue Detectiveseason 5with López returning as showrunner. Season 5 will once again embrace the show’s anthology format, with the story set to take place in Jamaica Bay, New York. There have been repeated calls for McConaughey and Harrelson to return for a sequel toTrue Detectiveseason 1, butNight Country’s success and discouragingcomments from Pizzolattohimself suggest this will likely never happen.
Our Take On McConaughey’s True Detective Comments
Why Season 1 Remains So Beloved
What the best season ofTrue Detectiveis will, of course, be a matter of personal preference, but it could certainly be argued that no season has been able to recapture the magic of season 1 just yet. In addition to career-best performances from McConaughey and Harrelson, the season presented a compelling mystery with hints of the supernatural.It was unpredictable, tragic, and sometimes disturbing, and episode 4 remains arguably the best in the show’s history, featuring a jaw-dropping one-take action sequence.
True Detective Season 1: Real Life Crime Inspiration Explained
True Detective Season 1’s Tuttle Cult was based on a real-life child sex abuse scandal in Hosanna Church, Louisiana. Here are the details of the case.
At this point, it seems unlikely that any new season will be able to touch season 1, both because of season 1’s actual quality but also because it has been built up to occupy a position of reverence within theTrue Detectivefandom. ThoughNight Countryarguably struggled to land the plane in later episodes, there was, as McConaughey says, plenty to admire, and López could take learnings from her debut season to make season 5 even better.
