After many months of limited to zero updates regarding the impending fifth season of True Detective, which was ordered up back in February 2024, the HBO hit reportedly landed Nicolas Cage to head up whatever the newest murder mystery will be under showrunner Issa López. Fans like myself are still holding out hope for Matthew McConaughey to return as TV’s most eloquent redneck, Rust Cohle, but I guess we’ll just have to make do with the Season 1 star offering his own personal seal of approval for that casting.
Speaking with Variety about one of his first live-action projects since 2019’s The Gentlemen — The Last Bus hits the 2025 movie schedule for a limited run on Sept. 19 — McConaughey was asked to weigh in on Cage being reported as the thriller anthology’s newest titular investigator, and it’d be hard to read into his reaction as anything but a warm sign of approval. When asked about it, the Interstellar vet lit up while verifying the casting was legit, saying:
I heard that, is that true? . . . Well alright, Nicolas. That sounds like a tasty combination.
It's the way Matthew McConaughey takes the information in and then says, "Alright, Nicolas," while raising his eyebrows and smiling. I can't imagine there being a better stamp of approval for anyone potentially stepping into a True Detective lead role. Like, if anything I did caused the actor to it just like that, I would feel pumped enough to think I could do no wrong. It does help that my name is also Nicholas.
While only a few actors out there would have salient advice about what a season of True Detective might be like, McConaughey had no big insights to share for Cage, and instead voiced his confidence that the other actor would crush it, amusingly using his first name three times in the same sentence.
I don’t [have advice]. I know Nicolas well enough that I know Nicolas is going to do his version of Nicolas, and like I said, that's a tasty combination. So good news.
Imagine if Matthew McConaughey would mess up one time and rather than saying, "Alright, alright, alright," instead said, "Nicolas, Nicolas, Nicolas." Well, that probably wouldn't have had as much of an impact on meme culture, and fans might question why he'd be using someone's first name as a positive descriptor.
Still, I can't argue with that, especially with it coming a year after Cage freaked audiences out in Oz Perkins' freaky horror Longlegs, which itself felt somewhat like a truncated season of True Detective. The actor is known for delivering unhinged performances, and I can only hope that working with Issa López on Season 5 inspires him to bring another knock-out performance.
That's assuming this project can come together in a timely enough manner. Cage currently has a John Madden biopic on the way, and he's also portraying the Spider-Verse character Spider-Noir for a standalone TV show. Not to mention co-starring in the David Mamet-scripted drama The Prince and playing Jesus' father in Lotfy Nathan's upcoming drama The Carpenter's Son.
Matthew McConaughey is set to reteam with both Dazed and Confused's Cole Hauser and True Detective's creator Nic Pizzolatto for a new Netflix movie, and while that project won't have any direct connections to the newest season of the HBO series, I'm never going to give up hope for Rust Cohle to pop back into our lives to share another unforgettable observation about time.
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