Turns out that Cary Fukunaga hasn’t even seen season two of True Detective

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

I know I'm not alone in my opinion, but I consider the first season of HBO's True Detective to be some of the most compelling television I've ever seen; everything from its acting to its score were top notch and left many of us anxiously waiting to see how writer/creator Nic Pizzolatto would follow it up. Cary Fukunaga, who directed every episode of the first season, would sadly not be returning for True Detective's sophomore season, but hopes were still high that it would be every bit as good as the first. Now that the second season of True Detective has come and gone (and its future is up in the air) we are beginning to realize just how much of a part Fukunaga played in making the first season of True Detective so great.

Although Cary Fukunaga stayed on as an executive producer, he not only had nothing to do with the production of the second season, he told Interview Magazine that he hasn't even gotten around to watching it.

I had nothing to do with Season 2, and I haven't seen it yet. But I think it was also set up for far too high expectations. I had never planned on doing Season 2. I don't even think I realized how much work Season 1 would be. But I try not to do the same thing twice. And I definitely would never have done two seasons of the same show. That's far too big of a commitment. After Season 1 was done, I was very happy to move on, back to feature film and a completely different world to immerse myself in. And whatever I do next, hopefully, will feel just as different as anything I've ever done before.

Instead of continuing with True Detective, Cary Fukunaga instead directed BEASTS OF NO NATION, a truly excellent film which followed Agu, a child soldier torn from his family by a Commandant played by Idris Elba in order to fight in a civil war. When asked whether a campaign to bring him back for a third season of True Detective would be successful, Fukunaga laughed and said "time to find a new candidate." You can read our own Chris Bumbray's reviews of True Detective right here!