We’re just over 72 hours or so away from finding out the secret behind the killing in “True Detective,” and theories continue to fly fast and furious through the psychosphere. But among the more absurd notions that are still being argued in some corners of the internet, is that Rust (Matthew McConaughey) or Martin (Woody Harrelson) are somehow involved in the killings. It would fly in the face of everything the show has established, and yet, there are some who are still spinning the theory. Well, series writer and creator Nic Pizzolatto is here to tell you quite simply: you’re wrong.
“It was a little surprising, but not frustrating at all, just part of the experience of having people connect to the show,” he told Buzzfeed about the speculation. “The possibility is built into the story, as it has to be credible that the 2012 PD suspect Cohle. I just thought that such a revelation would be terrible, obvious writing. For me, the worst writing generally just ‘flips’ things: this person’s really a traitor; it was all a dream; etc. Nothing is so ruinous as a forced ‘twist,’ I think.”
And in case there was any doubt Pizzolatto also said: “The story was entirely planned around them reuniting to try and resolve this serial murderer case.”
So, perhaps this Sunday, you might want to prepare for a finale that’s gritty, real and doesn’t entirely turn the tables on you. And that would make sense given the care and craft Pizzolatto has brought to “True Detective,” writing every single script and seeing it through with director Cary Fukunaga. But don’t expect that the second season will carry on the tradition with one person at the helm—the fact of the matter is that it’s logistically unworkable, especially if the “True Detective” series is to continue annually.
“We don’t have any plans to work with one director again. It would be impossible to do this yearly as we need to be able to do post while we’re still filming, like any other show,” he explained. And as Fukunaga himself told us last summer, tasking one director with an entire season of a show is an exhausting challenge.
“I’ll continue as an executive producer, but I don’t want to continue in the daily showrunner kinda way—it’s too much. When you shoot episodically you stop and you prep the next episode, but we didn’t have scripts for the last 2 episodes when we started and we didn’t have schedules or anything, we knew basically when we would have it finished by, but that was it,” the director said. “So there’s 300-and-something locations in the film and hundreds of speaking roles. Each location has to be vetted multiple times, then you need to bring department heads there to tech scout it. So we were basically shooting and prepping at the same time the last two months of the shoot which meant we had full shooting days—12 to 14 hours—plus four more at lunch or during shooting, scouting with the crew or doing castings or doing something related to the post-production that was happening at the same time… editing during weekends…”
But if you’re worried that with multiple directors, an overall vision for the show might be diminished, you needn’t be concerned. One only has to look at something like “House Of Cards“—which has multiple helmers across numerous episodes—as an example where everyone is keying in on a specific type of storytelling and visual feel. And that’s something Pizzolatto is already aware of. “There’s some great guys I’ve consulted, and we’re all confident we can achieve the same consistency,” he said. “Going forward, I want the show’s aesthetic to remain determinedly naturalistic, with room for silences and vastness, and an emphasis on landscape and culture. And I hope a story that presents new characters in a new place with authenticity and resonance and an authorial voice consistent with this season. Dominant colors will change. South Louisiana was green and burnished gold.”
So, what’s next for season two? Pizzolatto isn’t saying much, and even his tweet where he suggested that next time would feature two female detectives, has been deleted. “I deleted the tweet because I didn’t want to be beholden to a promise and then change my mind. I’m writing Season 2 right now, but I don’t want to divulge any potentialities, because so much could change. I just never want to create from a place of critical placation—that’s a dead zone. So I don’t want, for instance, a gender-bias-critique to influence what I do.”
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s still one more episode of “True Detective” to go and we can’t wait. See you Sunday night at 9 PM.
"I just thought that such a revelation would be terrible, obvious writing. For me, the worst writing generally just 'flips' things: this personâs really a traitor; it was all a dream; etc. Nothing is so ruinous as a forced 'twist,' I think." -Pizzolatto
Ahhh, thank you! Pizzolatto might not be frustrated by these theories, but I sure am. "It would fly in the face of everything the show has established." Yes, exactly, KJ. Plus, as Pizzolatto says (somehow without sounding arrogant), this is simply not that kind of story, not thet kind of writing where the story's going to end with a left-field-we-don't-know-how-to-end-this-thing cheap shot twist. Show's way too good for that and it's just not about those kind of twists. In a sense, it's not even fully a who done it, more a who-exactly done it and how far does this doing go. That is, Tuttle coming in with the task force so early on was a purposeful give away.
Agreed. This has been a great detective story, in a neo-noir tradition, with a touch of the southern Gothic, but it's not a science fiction show, or a paranormal show. The people pushing some of these loopy "theories" really have way too much time on their hands and also aren't very attentive when it comes to watching this show. I'm just looking forward to the ending now, and I'll be sad to see it over.
As for next season, I'll take it as it comes. Hopefully it's as good as this, but if not, this is still a very, very good piece of story telling, and I hope this new form of mini-series sticks around. Nice way to tell a story without watering it down over multiple seasons.
Who says we find out anything? Maybe the killing start taking places somewhere else and the series moves to the next "true detective"
Rust said in an earlier episode "there is no closure".
Don't expect all the answers…count yourself lucky if you get any.
Might be asking too much, but Meryl Streep would be astounding on a show low this. Has she done much, if any TV?
ahahaha you dummy the character of "Marty" is not played by "Martin Hart." No editors for you?
Excellent. I'm sure there are only good things to come.
Thank you for the write-up!