10 Minor Details That Could Be Very Important In True Detective Season 4

The season premiere of True Detective: Night Country has several minor details that could become major hints at what’s to come in the critically acclaimed series. Directed by Issa López (Tigers Are Not Afraid), True Detective season 4 is already being heralded as the greatest installment of the celebrated HBO crime franchise since the original season starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson premiered in 2014. Two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster and professional boxer turned actress Kali Reis star in the chilling Night Country which has leaned heavily into some of the supernatural themes from True Detective season 1.

True Detective season 4 has already inspired numerous theories that connect to some of the characters, storylines, and overarching themes of the acclaimed first season. One theory suggests that Travis, the ghost that Rose sees in Night Country who dances ominously and points to the frozen and buried scientists, could be Rust Cohle’s father. There is a preexisting loose connection between Rust and Alaska based on True Detective season 1, which is where the McConaughey character went to live for a time after working on the case of The Yellow King-worshipping serial killer. Night Country streams on Sundays on HBO and MAX.

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10 Fake Hildred Castaigne Quote

References The Yellow King

True Detective season 4 opens with a quote that appears to be from the short story “The King in Yellow” written by Robert W. Chambers, which informed much of the mythos around The Yellow King antagonist in the original True Detective series. The quote is attributed to a character in “The King in Yellow” named Hildred Castaigne but was revealed by Issa López herself to have been fabricated to force a connection to season 1. While it’s certainly a bold maneuver to revise any original text, the quote is sure to carry some deeper meaning moving forward.

9 One-Eyed Polar Bear

Appears in various forms

The most repetitive motif in True Detective season 4, episode 1 is the one-eyed polar bear, which appears both as a stuffed animal to Officer Liz Danvers (Foster) and a real-life incarnation to Alaskan State Trooper Evangeline Navarro (Reis). Upon closer examination, it appears that the polar bear has a star-shaped wound over its eye, which is consistent with the multiple fatal stab wounds on Annie K.’s body. This is surely no coincidence as whatever happened to the polar bear’s eye is almost certainly related to Annie K.’s death.

8 Star Shaped Stab Wounds

Implies a miner’s murder weapon

The star-shaped stab wounds are identified by Officer Danvers when examining Annie K.’s case files. This implies that the murder weapon was likely a tool that leaves a star-shaped impression such as a Torx-headed screwdriver. The star-shaped wound also appears on the polar bear that Trooper Navarro encounters and is replicated in Darwin’s drawing of the “local legend” as Kayla describes. The one eye is also connected to the winking smiley-faced patch on Annie’s coat.

7 Tsalal Arctic Research Station

Tsalal has a specific religious meaning

The name of the Arctic Research Station in True Detective: Night Country is Tsalal, which is a word that appears in the Old Testament. In Hebrew, Tsalal means to be or to become dark, which fits quite well with the thirty days of night Alaskan setting as well as the overall tone of the season. It could, however, hint at something more sinister and paranormal that is seen at in the very first scene when a herd of deer seemingly become “possessed” and spellbound as they pummel to their deaths. Something seemingly supernatural could be forcing living things to “become dark”.

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6 Repetitive Use Of Color Blue

From wall colors to monster drawings

A light shade of icy blue is a consistent color used throughout True Detective season 4, episode 1. Navarro’s sister, who is portrayed as potentially having a mental health condition, has icy blue hair, which does not seem to be a coincidence. The “local legend” in the drawing that Darwin draws with the star-shaped eyes also has blue hair, which implies a connection to Navarro’s sister. Officer Hank Prior, who is a suspicious character throughout Night Country episode 1, is also painting a room of his house blue for some reason.

5 Blood Meridian By Cormac McCarthy Novel

Hints at Indigenous targets

Early in True Detective season 4, episode 1, the food delivery worker comes across an overturned open book while he’s looking for signs of life at Tsalal. That book is Blood Meridian by renowned novelist Cormac McCarthy, which centers around a group of outlaws who murder Indigenous Peoples. This detail will likely link to who is responsible for killing Annie K., an Indigenous woman, and may implicate the group of Tsalal researchers as being involved in whatever is going on in Ennis, supernatural or not.

4 John Carpenter’s The Thing DVD

One of López’s favorite movies

In the scene where Danvers is initially trying to turn off the “Twist & Shout” scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off which is repeating on an endless loop, a DVD copy of John Carpenter’s classic horror film The Thing can be seen in the background. López herself has stated that The Thing is one of her favorite horror films and True Detective season 4 clearly resembles some of the visual influences of that movie. The antagonists in The Thing are revealed to be aliens, which could be the direction that True Detective: Night Country is heading in.

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3 Contaminated Tap Water

Could be related to climate change

Several characters in True Detective: Night Country make note that the “water’s gone bad” in Ennis ever since the researchers at Tsalal went missing and instead resort to drinking Lone Star beer, which is a nod to Rust Cohle and season 1. The contaminated water could be the first sign of a large environmental crisis that the Tsalal scientists were helping to control or keep hidden. Danvers used the water to brush her teeth in the episode and then was apparently visited by a ghostlike figure who presumably left the one-eyed polar bear stuffed animal, hinting that the water could be possessed or inspired hallucinations.

2 Classic True Detective Spiral

Symbolizes the occult or paranormal

The spiral symbol from True Detective season 1 is unmissable in Night Country, particularly when Danvers is reviewing all of the documents in Annie K.’s case files as seen above. Spirals were a major motif for the pedophilic ring and the Carcosa cult composed of the Tuttle family in True Detective season 1. The emergence of the spiral in Night Country could be an expansion of these themes of a dark supernatural group of occult worshipers, or it could turn out to be a red herring that was made simply to force more connections to season 1.

1 Opening Credits Symbolism

An orange, bathtub, and Billie Eilish

There are many obscure images and objects found in the opening title sequence of True Detective season 4. There is an orange rolling down the frozen road, which is later shown peeled and underwater, There is also a full bathtub with a dark unknown liquid inside, which could represent the “bad water” plaguing Ennis. A deer skull also floats underwater, presumably relating to the opening scene of episode 1. Interestingly, there is also a protest sign that reads “Protect our water”. The lyrics of Billie Eilish’s “bury a friend” could also provide more clues to what’s in store in 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

Directors

Cary Fukunaga

Showrunner

Nic Pizzolatto