True Detective: Night Country has come to an end, providing viewers with an explanation for the Tsalal researchers’ deaths and the murder of Inupiat woman Annie Kowtok. Reactions to the HBO anthology’s fourth season have been mixed but, perhaps unexpectedly, one of the more vocal critics of Night Country has been True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto. In fact, after the season finale aired Sunday night, Pizzolatto took to social media to share others’ negative reactions, drawing the ire of Season 4 star Kali Reis, who clapped back with some thoughts of her own.
Night Country was the first season of the anthology series that didn’t involve Nic Pizzolatto, though he remained credited as an executive producer. It was instead Issa López who wrote and directed Season 4, and Pizzolatto seemed intent on making sure people knew these six episodes did not come from him. He posted several Instagram Stories (via Uproxx) following the finale that called the fourth season a “massive fuck you” to the previous seasons and fans with its “lazy, nonsensical” story. Kali Reis, who co-starred as Evangeline Navarro opposite Jodie Foster, didn’t hold back as she wrote on X (Twitter):
🙄😐 That’s a damn shame…but hey I guess ‘if you don’t have anything good to share, shit on others’ is the new wave 🤷🏽♀️ lol
Night Country was originally conceived by Issa López as a standalone series but was tweaked when it was picked up as the fourth installment of True Detective to include connections to Matthew McConaughey’s Season 1. The six-episode Season 4 drew favorable comparisons to that first season from critics, although many viewers found enough cracks in the foundation to keep from going all in.
After a fan commented on Kali Reis’ post that Nic Pizzolatto had the “right” to repost the criticisms as the creator of the series, the actress shot that down, saying:
Not taking that away from him at all bro, ‘RIGHT’ away my guy. Just be straight up n say what YOU really mean. I’m genuinely interested to hear HIS thoughts on it not filtered through the lil cheerleaders
Nic Pizzolatto did, in fact, share his thoughts on True Detective: Night Country earlier in the season, responding to other fans’ criticism by saying Season 4 was “so stupid." Issa López said at the time that, “whatever his reactions are, he’s entitled to them,” and while Kali Reis echoed that sentiment in another post, she pointed out that True Detective is an anthology, which means it’s open to other filmmakers’ perspectives. She wrote:
Hey man everyone is entitled to have an opinion 🤷🏽♀️ TD was created as an ANTHOLOGY so we could see different interpretations of the works of TD that was beautifully created by em. Not the direction he would go? Cool, sun still sets 😎😁😆
I guess they’ll agree to disagree then? Despite Night Country’s sixth episode filling in a lot of the blanks regarding the mysterious Alaskan darkness, fans were still left with plenty of questions after the Season 4 finale — including what exactly happened to Kali Reis’ character. If you want to relive any of the four True Detective seasons, they are all available to stream with a Max subscription, and now that it’s over, be sure to check out our 2024 TV schedule to see what premieres are coming up.
