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True Detective renewed for fifth season after return to form

We're only at the beginning of a new era for True Detective under its new show runner

True Detective renewed for fifth season after return to form
Andrew Williams
23 February 2024

True Detective has been renewed for a fifth season following the success of Night Country, which concluded on screens recently.

Season five will see True Detective continue in what we might consider the second era of the series.

While each season of the show is a largely self-contained story, seasons one to three were headed up by showrunner Nic Pizzolatto. True Detective: Night Country's successor will see series 4 head Issa López continue to hold the reins.

That’s great news if you consider Night Country the best season since the first. And you didn’t? Well, you’re not on the same page as Night Country star Jodie Foster.

Shortlist editor Marc got to sit down with Foster just before the series finale, and she had nothing but praise for López, who wrote the series as well as acting as showrunner.

“The first time I met her I just was like, ‘She's exactly the right vision.’ For me, she's probably my favourite director,” said Foster.

“She has everything you're hoping for. She's intelligent, emotionally intelligent. She's flexible, but she also knows where she's headed.”

Be sure to check out the full interview for more on Night Country and Foster's wider career.

True Detective: Night Country is the most-watched season of the show to date, with an average 12.7 million viewers per episode. That beats the 11.9 million average of the original, which felt like more of a viral sensation at the time — but back in 2014 the state of streaming was rather different.

Night Country is also the best-reviewed of the True Detective seasons since the original,

So far we know nothing about the next season of the show, but with any luck we won’t have to endure anything like the 5-year gap between the third and fourth instalments this time.