WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for True Detective: Night Country.
Following the premiere of True Detective: Night Country, there are already several apparent references to season 1 of the critically acclaimed HBO crime anthology series. Following two lackluster showings from True Detective seasons 2 and 3, the series has made a big comeback with the Jodie Foster-led Night Country, which takes place in the remote Alaskan town of Ennis and dives deeper into the show’s paranormal roots. Foster shines as the veteran police chief Liz Danvers alongside a powerful performance from Kali Reis as an Alaskan state trooper who hasn’t gotten over a suspicious case from six years prior.
True Detective: Night Country is the first of the series not to be created by Nic Pizzolatto, who remains involved in the project as an executive producer. Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson also serve as executive producers of Night Country, with up-and-coming horror director Issa López at the helm of the 2024 six-part series. The first episode of True Detective: Night Country certainly sets the foundation for one of the darkest and most supernaturally aware seasons of True Detective yet, with several early clues pointing toward a twisted and haunting ghost story emerging by the season’s end.
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7 Lone Star Beer Appears In True Detective: Night Country Episode 1
One of the first callbacks that True Detective: Night Country makes to season 1 and its protagonist Rust Cohle is the inclusion of the fictitious beer brand Lone Star. Cohle famously demands that two detectives get him a six-pack of Lone Star beer in the very first episode of True Detective with his reasoning being that “it’s Thursday and it’s past noon.” In True Detective: Night Country, Officer Hank Prior (John Hawkes) offers his son and fellow officer Peter (Finn Bennett) a Lone Star beer when he comes over. Navarro is also offered a Lone Star in a scene.
6 True Detective Season 4 Repeats Season 1’s Use Of Antlers
True Detective: Night Country begins with a bizarre opening scene in which a herd of elk seemingly becomes possessed by some dark spiritual energy. They collectively jump to their deaths on December 17 during the last sunset of the year before the thirty days of night to the horror and confusion of an Indigenous hunter. Antlers were a major narrative symbol of True Detective season 1, as the victim in the very first episode of the series was methodically positioned with antlers above her head. Antlers have historically represented a dark ritual that signifies or implies death in True Detective.
5 Spiral Pattern Appears In True Detective: Night Country Episode 1
The most obvious callback to previous episodes of True Detective is the spiral symbol that is found throughout True Detective season 1. Liz Danvers lays out all of the evidence of the Annie K. case in a spiral pattern in True Detective: Night Country episode 1 and the symbol is also found on the foreheads of the deceased in season 4. The spiral was seen in various forms in True Detective season 1, first on the back of a victim in the pilot episode. It’s the most well-known symbol of the True Detective series that implies a shared narrative universe.
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4 True Detective Season 4 Takes Place In Alaska (Where Rust Cohle Lived)
True Detective: Night Country takes place in a remote part of Alaska, which at first seems to have no connection to the other True Detective series that take place in Louisiana, Los Angeles, and the Ozarks, respectively. There is a connection, however, to Rust Cohle, who reveals in True Detective season 1 that he went on to live in Alaska for nearly a decade after he worked with Marty Hart in the 1990s. This fact leaves open the possibility the Cohle is somehow connected, or will potentially be called upon, to help solve the new case in True Detective: Night Country.
3 True Detective: Night Country’s Opening Quote References The Yellow King
The opening quote in True Detective: Night Country is a direct reference to The Yellow King, who was the mythical antagonist of True Detective season 1. The quote, which reads, “…For we do not know what beasts the night dreams when its hours grow too long for even God to be awake” is said to have been written by Hildred Castaigne, a fictional character in Robert W. Chambers’ 1895 collection of short stories “The King in Yellow”. The quote was actually made up by López to force this fabricated connection between Night Country and True Detective season 1 (via Business Insider).
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2 True Detective Season 4 Characters Reference Philosophers & Naturalists
Several of the new characters in True Detective: Night Country are direct references to existentialist philosophers and naturalist thinkers who inspired Rust Cohle’s pessimistic and atheistic views on life throughout season 1. One of the victims is literally named Ralph Emerson, a blatant reference to the transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson who wrote extensively about self-improvement. Emerson also explored themes of the divine power found through the grace and force of nature, a theme that Rust often contemplated in season 1. Kayla’s (Anna Lambe) younger brother is named Darwin, likely a shout-out to renowned naturalist Charles Darwin.
1 Many Rust Cohle Quotes Apply Thematically To True Detective: Night Country
Although Rust Cohle does not appear onscreen throughout True Detective: Night Country, his bleak and spiraled ramblings about the grimness of the world and the fallacies of humankind are felt tonally throughout. One of Cohle’s most famous quotes from True Detective season 1 is surely at work thematically in Night Country, it being “This is a world where nothing is solved. You know, someone once told me time is a flat circle. Everything we’ve ever done or will do, we’re gonna do over and over and over again.” The fact that there are so many easter eggs and references to True Detective season 1 in Night Country is evidence of Cohle’s point in itself.
Another Cohle quote that applies significantly to True Detective: Night Country is, “People out here, it’s like they don’t even know the outside world exists. Might as well be living on the fucking moon” due to season 4’s remote setting. This concept also works inversely as much of the outside world had no idea of the paranormal things that are happening in Ennis. Additionally, a True Detective season 1 quote that could come into play is “Once there was always dark. If you ask me, the light’s winning” depending on the outcome of True Detective: Night Country.
True Detective
In this anthology series, each season follows a different detective or set of detectives as they forced to confront some horrific truths about their town and themselves. No matter the setting and characters, each detective must unravel lies and clues to solve the chilling mysteries around them.
- Release Date
- January 12, 2014
- Cast
- Matthew McConaughey , Woody Harrelson , Colin Farrell , Rachel McAdams , Taylor Kitsch , Mahershala Ali , Carmen Ejogo , Michelle Monaghan , Michael Potts , Ray Fisher , Jodie Foster
- Genres
- Anthology , Mystery
- Seasons
- 3
- Story By
- NIC PIZZOLATTO
- Writers
- Nic Pizzolatto
- Network
- HBO Max
- Streaming Service(s)
- Hulu , HBO Max
- Directors
- Cary Fukunaga
- Showrunner
- Nic Pizzolatto
