True Detective: Night Country’s frightening storyline is not totally fictitious.
Issa López, the showrunner for season four, was inspired by two real-life mysteries: Mary Celeste and Dyatlov Pass.
In the first example, an American boat’s whole crew of 11 (the captain, his wife, a young kid, and eight crew members) went missing en way to Italy in 1872. The boat was discovered in Portugal, missing a lifeboat but otherwise unharmed and loaded with six months of food and water.
In 1959, nine experienced Russian hikers died after freezing away from their camp in the Ural Mountains. According to The New York Times, the victims were found almost completely nude and barefoot.
Mexican director Issa does not think that the conditions were caused by an avalanche.
‘An avalanche doesn’t explain a lot of the details I think. Even if it did, I prefer the strange, incomplete answer. I think there is a fascination with puzzles that are still missing a couple of pieces, and that obsess us, and make us angry, and make us not stop thinking about them,’ she told Vanity Fair.
In the first episode of True Detective: Night Country, police chief Liz Danvers (played by Jodie Foster) arrives at the remote Tsalal Arctic Research Station to find eight scientists missing.
What makes the case even more perplexing is that their things, including mobile phones and a half-eaten lunch, remain in their house and office. Liz then discovers a severed tongue, entirely removed from its owner, in another scene that some of us may have to watch through our fingers.
Soon, viewers realise that the town of Ennis (created for the programme) in Alaska is full with unusual activities. Evangeline Navarro, played by Kali Reis, is also investigating a crime that may be linked to the murder of a Native lady.
Speaking about her decision to cast professional boxer and actor Kali, Issa said: ‘I thought that because we were going to be dealing with the very delicate subject – a little overused lately – of murdered and missing Indigenous women, that at least one of the detectives in the series should belong to the culture.
‘Because having white characters to come figure out what went wrong in there, I just don’t believe in that.’
Like the real-world instances, the six-parter will leave you with unanswered questions when the credits roll.
‘Not all of the details, not all of the questions are clarified at the end,’ Issa teased.
However, viewers may go back and watch the first five episodes, which also star John Hawkes, to seek for hints she has strategically placed throughout. In reality, the characters are just in front of you. We will be observing with a notepad and pen!
True Detective: Night Country is available to watch on Now.