True Detective is inching closer to a formal comeback at HBO — without creator Nic Pizzolatto at the helm.
Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the premium cable network has recruited Issa Lopez (Tigers Are Not Afraid, Secondary Effects) to pen a script for a new cycle that has been dubbed True Detective: Night Country. Additionally, Barry Jenkins is attached to exec produce the anthology. Should season four move forward — it’s currently in development — Lopez would direct the pilot in addition to serving as an exec producer.
HBO declined comment as deals have not yet been formalized. Season one stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are expected to return as executive producers as they had been on all three previous seasons of the Emmy-winning HBO show. Jenkins, who moved his overall deal to HBO last April after a few years at Amazon, will exec produce via his Pastel banner with the company’s Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak also on board as EPs. Anonymous Content will again produce.
Pizzolatto will also likely be credited as an exec producer though he is not expected to formally involved in a fourth season. Pizzolatto, who created the anthology, sources previously told THR in January 2020 that the showrunner met with execs at HBO and all parties agreed that it was time to part ways. He inked his first overall pact with HBO pegged to the debut of True Detective and renewed that deal twice. HBO owns the rights to True Detective and, since Pizzolatto’s departure, left the door open to revisit the show with a new writer and central producer at the helm as it looks explore different points of view. (Pizzolatto, since leaving HBO, re-teamed with McConaughey for FX series Redeemer as part of an overall deal with the cabler. The series did not move forward and Pizzolatto negotiated an early exit from his FX pact.)
News of the True Detective revival comes as no surprise. HBO and HBO Max boss Casey Bloys told THR in February that “we’ve been developing various ideas” of the franchise.
Pizzolatto skyrocketed to fame after the star-studded first season broke out for HBO with 12 Emmy nominations. He took home the Emmy for writing as part of the show’s five wins for season one. The franchise, through three seasons, has earned more than 20 nominations.
Jenkins, for his part, spent years working on The Underground Railroad at Amazon under his first-look deal with the streamer. The Moonlight Oscar winner is repped by CAA, Jewerl Ross and attorney Jamie Feldman.
Lopez, repped by M88, Rand Holston and Hirsch Wallerstein, is an award-winning Mexican producer, writer and director. She’s developed projects with the likes of Guillermo Del Toro, Noah Hawley and Jason Blum.