‘True Detective’ Creator Nic Pizzolatto Dissed Season 4; New Boss Issa López Says He’s ‘Entitled’ to His Beliefs: ‘That’s His Prerogative’

“True Detective: Night Country” is the first season of the HBO anthology series not created by Nic Pizzolatto, who up until now had a writing credit on every episode across the show’s first three seasons. The show’s fourth season, “Night Country,” hails from Issa López, whose 2017 horror movie “Tigers Are Not Afraid” served as an industry breakthrough for the writer-director. López directed and co-wrote all six episodes of the new season.

While Pizzolatto is still an executive producer on the show, he has made it quite clear on social media amid “Night Country’s” run that he is not involved in any capacity with the fourth season of the show. He allegedly commented in since-deleted social media posts that some Season 4 plot points that connect to the show’s first season are “so stupid” and told one fan, “I certainly did not have any input on this story or anything else. Can’t blame me.”

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López was recently asked by Vulture about Pizzolatto’s alleged criticisms of her edition of “True Detective,” to which she answered: “I believe that every storyteller has a very specific, peculiar, and unique relation to the stories they create, and whatever his reactions are, he’s entitled to them. That’s his prerogative.”

“I wrote this with profound love for the work he made and love for the people that loved it,” López added. “And it is a reinvention, and it is different, and it’s done with the idea of sitting down around the fire, and [let’s] have some fun and have some feelings and have some thoughts. And anybody that wants to join is welcome.”

Variety has reached out to Pizzolatto’s team for additional comment.

“True Detective: Night Country” is headlined by two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster and boxer-turned-actor Kali Reis and centers on 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.”

López made headlines after the series premiered when she took to X (formerly Twitter) 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.”

“True Detective: Night Country” airs new episodes on Sunday nights at 9pm ET on HBO and Max.

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