True Detective: The real-life mysteries that inspired Season 4
HBOAs True Detective fans enjoy the beginning of Season 4, many wonder if the plot was inspired by two real-life mysteries, so here’s everything we know.
Seasons 1-3 of True Detective covered the worst of humanity, from kidnapped children and political assassinations to some very unpleasant business with the occult.
Season 4 revolves around similarly dark themes, with the official synopsis as follows: “When the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, the eight men who operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace. To solve the case, Detectives Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves, and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice.”
A new showrunner is overseeing proceedings, and they have been discussing real-world inspirations for the plot of Night Country.
The real-life mysteries that inspired True Detective Season 4
Issa López – best known for superb Mexican horror Tigers Are Not Afraid – directs all of True Detective Season 4, and writes or co-writes every episode. While speaking to Vanity Fair, the filmmaker said that two very specific real-life mysteries inspired Night Country.
First is the Mary Celeste, a ship that was found floating near the Azores Islands in December 1872, its crew nowhere to be seen. Lifeboats were missing, and the last log was dated 10 days previous. No one on board was ever seen again.
The second is the so-called “Dyatlov Pass Incident,” whereby a group of experienced Russian explorers hiking in the Ural Mountains in 1959 inexplicably cut their way out of their tents, and died in the freezing cold wilderness.
Said incident has previously been blamed on an avalanche, but Lopez isn’t buying it, telling VF: “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.”
Does the nature of those mysteries provide clues to what’s happened to the Tsalal research team in True Detective Night Country? We’ll have to wait until the weekend to find out, as that’s when Season 4 debuts on HBO/Max in the US, and Sky/Now in the UK.
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