New ‘True Detective’ Boss Calls Out ‘Bros and Hardcore Fanboys’ Whose Mission Is to Drag Down Season 4 Audience Score: ‘It’s Kind of Sad’

“True Detective: Night Country” showrunner Issa López took to X (formerly Twitter) the day after her season debuted on HBO and Max to urge fans to fight back against toxic trolls on Rotten Tomatoes. While the fourth season of the HBO crime series has earned glowing reviews (it boasts a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score from 73 reviews), there’s apparently a section of the fandom unhappy with the new direction of the show (the Rotten Tomatoes audience score is at 69%).

“So, if you liked last night’s [episode] of [‘True Detective: Night Country’], and have a Rotten Tomatoes account, maybe head over there and leave an audience review?” Lopez wrote to her followers. “The bros and hardcore fanboys of [Season 1] have made it a mission to drag the rating down, and it’s kind of sad, considering all the 5 star ones.”

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“Review bombing” is the term often associated with fans joining together to bring down a film or television series’ audience score on platforms such as Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB and more. Lopez did not identify the exact reason why “True Detective” fans were trying to drag down the “Night Country” audience rating, but franchise entries led by women and/or an inclusive cast often become targets of review bombing. It happened to Marvel with “Captain Marvel” and to Sony with 2016’s “Ghostbusters” reboot, among other examples.

“True Detective: Night Country” is headlined by two female actors, two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster and boxer-turned-actor Kali Reis, and concerns a murder mystery involving an Indigenous Alaskan woman. The new season wowed TV critics, with Variety‘s Alison Herman calling it a “rewarding reboot” and “a haunting murder mystery,” adding: “The six-episode season also takes a notably different approach to the supernatural, a background motif of past installments that here becomes a central theme.”

A quick glance at the “Night Country” audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes sees some one-star reviews upset that “True Detective” is no longer the vision of Nic Pizzolatto, the showrunner for the first three seasons. Issa López, a screenwriter and filmmaker from Mexico whose 2017 horror movie “Tigers Are Not Afraid” was a breakthrough, took over showrunner duties for “Night Country,” for which she directed and co-wrote all six episodes.

The season premiere of “Night Country” is now streaming on Max. New episodes air on HBO and Max on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET.

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