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‘True Detective: Night Country’ with Kali Reis and Jodie Foster; Nico Pizzolatto
Michele K. Short/HBO; JB Lacroix/WireImage
“I can’t blame myself.” Those are the words by Nic Pizzolatto, the creator of real detective, in response to a publication on social networks criticizing the fourth season of the HBO anthology, the first cycle in which he has not had direct participation. That tweet, as well as repeated posts of messages from viewers criticizing the new season, raises the question of what the show’s original creator has been up to since he left the series.
To update: the first season of 2014 of true detective, starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as Louisiana detectives tracking a serial killer, was a huge hit for HBO, earning a Rotten Tomatoes score of 91 among critics and an 88 audience score. The freshman run earned a franchise-high 12 Emmy nominations, helping Pizzolatto skyrocket to fame.
The second season, starring Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn and Rachel McAdams as detectives investigating a corrupt politician, was received much less favorably, with only a 47 percent rating among critics and a 25 percent rating among audiences. The Television Academy was also less optimistic about the sophomore race, which earned just one nomination (for sound mixing). The third season directed by Mahershala Ali, in which Pizzolatto was joined by writers David Milch and Graham Gordy, marked a rebound for the franchise in terms of reception (84 percent Tomatoes score among critics) and recognition (nine nominations to the Emmy). Throughout its first three seasons, the show won a total of five Emmy Awards, all of them in its first year.
Pizzolatto signed his first television contract with HBO linked to the debut of real detective and renewed that pact twice, the last time for an estimated $3 million a year. After the conclusion of the third season, when Pizzolatto’s contract was expiring, he chose to leave to dedicate himself to a new project that was created at FX and HBO refused to offer the showrunner a new deal. Since HBO retains ownership rights to true detective, Sources at the time said the Casey Bloys-led cabler was eager to see what a new voice with a different point of view could bring to the franchise.
After leaving HBO, Pizzolatto signed an overall deal with Disney-owned FX Productions and Fox 21 tied to the development of another high-profile show: Redeemerbased on the novel by Patrick Coleman The church goer. The drama, which would reunite Pizzolatto with star McConaughey, was announced in January 2020 as in development with a sizable script for the series commitment at FX (meaning if the scripts went well, it would trigger a direct order to the series and avoid the traditional pilot stage). Fast forward a year to January 2021 and after sitting down with Redeemer For the pandemic-affected 2020 production shutdown, Pizzolatto, who had two years left on his contract, opted to negotiate an early exit from Disney after FX dropped the show.
Pizzolatto then turned his attention to features and wrote the 2021 script. The blame, a reboot of a Danish film, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, which debuted on Netflix to lukewarm reviews (74 percent among critics and 49 percent among viewers). The film capped a six-year career during which Pizzolatto also wrote articles. The seven magnificents and Galveston, the latter of which was based on his book of the same name published by RLJE Films.
Meanwhile, HBO began developing the fourth season of real detective in March 2022 with executive producer Barry Jenkins, who moved his overall deal from Amazon to HBO, and writer Issa López (Tigers are not afraid). Jodie Foster was cast in May 2022, and HBO formally greenlit the fourth season two months later, when Kali Reis signed on as a co-star. Pizzolatto, McConaughey and Harrelson remain credited as executive producers on the franchise, although none have any connection to the series.
In 2023, while HBO was filming the fourth season, Amazon partnered with Pizzolatto for an untitled Western television series that was being fast-tracked from a script to series commitment. A month later, Amazon reworked Pizzolatto’s original idea and made it the scribe’s second attempt at The seven magnificents. Then, in April of last year, Pizzolatto became the latest in a series of Marvel Studios writers. Bladewho reunited him with real detective The third season leads Ali. However, his work on the script would be short-lived, as the writers’ strike in May halted his efforts, and after the end of the strike, Marvel dropped Pizzolatto’s opinion and hired Michael Green.
fourth season of real detective ended its six-episode run this month as the anthology’s most-watched series with 12.7 million viewers per episode, surpassing Pizzolatto’s first season (11.9 million). While the fourth season has a 92 percent rating among critics on Rotten Tomatoes, Pizzolatto has been active on social media as he continues to post messages from viewers that he has criticized. night country (it currently has an audience score of 61 percent).
“The way we relate to the stories we tell is deep and personal, and I can’t pass judgment on your experience. Your experience is not my experience. I never started a franchise, so I can’t speak for him. “I can speak for myself,” said showrunner López. THR On Wednesday. “And all I can say is that I love it.” real detective and I love night country, and they’re in that same universe, and if you got on the boat with me and came along for a ride, you’ll enjoy the fact that the language is the same language and the mythology is the same mythology and the elements. They are shared. But if you didn’t get on the boat with me, you’re not going to like it. So I hope you jumped on board with me and gave me this opportunity.”
Season four star Reis, responding to a viewer who criticized Pizzolatto for “posting other people’s stories about how Issa Lopez ruined the franchise like an absolutely huge baby,” wrote that it was “a damn shame” that the real detective The creator couldn’t stand the new installment. “But hey, I guess ‘if you don’t have anything good to share, shit on others’ is the new wave,” he said. wrote.
Pizzolatto declined to comment for this story, but shared an Instagram post on Wednesday morning as a way to respond to viewers who didn’t enjoy night country: “(This) here is the place for all your trolling/support/infighting. real detective and the utter moral degeneration and misogyny of anyone who didn’t think they were good. Let’s get these rants out of my posts about my wife, true love, and my father’s death, okay? I would say “be civil,” but of course civility has no place when criticism of a television show indicates some form of Hitlerian evil that must be eradicated. So keep going, tide. Satire is welcome and is about having a good day.”
Meanwhile, Amazon says Pizzolatto Magnificent seven The TV show is still in development, but he declined to provide further details. Sources say Pizzolatto also wrote a feature film that attracted a big-name star and director and should be announced this month, and is working on two other television projects. In April, he will make his feature film directorial debut when production begins. easy waltza film he wrote starring Al Pacino and real detective Vaughn, star of the second season.
Aaron Couch contributed to this report.