Skip to main content

Matthew McConaughey, like many other A-list actors, only did one season of True Detective. But it was a season that McConaughey had many reasons to be proud of. It didn’t only enjoy almost unanimous critical praise, but it earned McConaughey his first Emmy nomination. Years later, he revealed where he ranks his season of True Detective in HBO’s anthology series.

Matthew McConaughey feels ‘True Detective’ season 1 was an event

It didn’t take too much convincing for McConaughey to sign onto True Detective. Although its first season gave the show its prestigious reputation, the series was still an untested experimented when McConaughey did the project. But the Lincoln Lawyer star had no reservations about shrinking his presence down to the small screen. Based on the script he read, he believed in the material too much to turn it down.

“I read those first two episodes, and the quality was so apparent, and had such an identity to it that even without reading the final six episodes, I felt this was going to be hard to screw up,” McConaughey once told Deadline. “The voices were so clear, if the writer just stays on this path, it was going to be hard to wreck this train.”

It helped that McConaughey was familiar with Cary Fukunaga, who directed all eight episodes of True Detective’s first season. With Fukunaga and showrunner Nic Pizzolatto steering the show, McConaughey’s faith in its success was secure. Later on, it turned out the actor was right to trust both the show and its creator. True Detective only added to the lore of his McConaissance, which actually saw the actor lose money in exchange for more respect as an actor.

But the series continued after McConaughey departed the franchise, offering other actors like Mahershala Ali a chance to shine in Pizzolatto’s modern noir. True Detective Night Country, however, took the franchise in its most daring direction yet with Jodie Foster as the lead. In an interview with Variety, McConaughey admitted that he watched parts of True Detective’s most recent season. As much as he might’ve enjoyed it, he didn’t think it matched up to his version of the show.

“I watched, I saw it. Yeah, there’s a lot about it that I appreciated,” McConaughey said. “My favorite season — and I feel like I can say this objectively — is Season 1. I happen to be in that one, so I thought that was incredible, incredible television and a great series. I watched it weekly, like everyone else, on Sunday night, and that was an event for me. And I got to sit back and enjoy that. I loved the water cooler talk on Monday morning. Even though I made it, I sort of forgot what was going to happen next. It was one of the great events in TV.”

Jodie Foster shared what separated ‘True Detective’ Seasons 1 and 4

Foster seemed to have as much appreciation for her time on True Detective as McConaughey did in his. The season, which had Foster playing a different kind of cynical detective, gave the Oscar-winner a creative fulfillment she hadn’t felt in a long time.

“I think Silence of the Lambs is the closest experience that I’ve ever had to this – where you jump on something because you love the material so much and everybody jumps on and does their best work because they respond to that material and the depth of it. And then you do the best work of your life,” Foster said in an interview with Today.

Speaking with E-Talk, the veteran actor further touched on what made her True Detective different from her predecessor’s.

“Season 1 really explored masculinity from the masculine perspective,” she said. “And I think our show explores women’s culture, feminine culture, in all of its rawness and complexities and awfulness and messiness. So, we have sort of turned that idea on its ears, and its made for quite a different show.”

Although his co-star Woody Harrelson wouldn’t return to True Detective, McConaughey always seemed more open to the possibility. It was noted that McConaughey served as a producer for Night Country, which presented the opportunity for him and Foster to reunite. Foster was very much looking forward to seeing McConaughey again since the last time they worked together was in the 1997 film Contact.

“Hopefully, the premiere’s gonna happen and I’m gonna get to see Matthew and talk about it,” she said.

Best in News