SILENCE OF THE LANDS

After two disappointing seasons, HBO's procedural roars back with True Detective: Night Country. Starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as two Alaskan cops seeking eight missing scientists, this nocturnal noir promises to revitalise the franchise. Total Film joins the cast and creator Issa López on set in deepest, darkest Iceland for some serious sleuthing. 

- JAMES MOTTRAM

What’s in the box? Jodie Foster, arms folded, dressed in the beiges and browns of the Alaska State Troopers, is staring intently at a series of cardboard containers scattered across the floor of a cramped office. Joining her is boxer-turned-actress Kali Reis (Catch the Fair One), her partner-in-crime-solving. ‘Let’s do this,’ mutters Reis’ Evangeline Navarro, as they don black gloves and begin sifting through folders of evidence. The true detective work is about to begin.

It’s 1 March 2023 – day 87 of 112 – and Total Film has travelled to Reykjavik, Iceland, where the fourth season of HBO’s procedural anthology series True Detective has been filming since the previous September. Outside, daylight is in short supply, something the cast have had to adjust to. ‘It’s weird waking up at 10.30 in the morning, and it’s pitch black,’ says Reis. But it serves as the perfect backdrop: after seasons two (led by Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn) and three (Mahershala Ali, Stephen Dorff) critically underwhelmed, True Detective: Night Country is going dark.

Enter Mexican filmmaker Issa López (2017’s Tigers Are Not Afraid), who took a call from HBO’s Francesca Orsi, asking her to figure out a way to recapture the spirit of the Emmy-winning first season, which launched in 2014 and starred Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey as two Louisiana detectives. ‘What was it that in the first season had connected so powerfully? I gave it a lot of thought,’ muses López, when she joins TF off-set in an upstairs conference room in Reykjavik’s Fossa Studios. The answer? ‘Atmosphere.’