True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto calls Night Country stupid, writer/director Issa López responds

True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto was the mastermind behind the first three seasons of the HBO anthology crime series, but he’s not creatively involved in the latest season, True Detective: Night Country, despite retaining an executive producer credit on the show. He has made his lack of involvement with the new season very clear on social media, where he even went so far as to refer to one element of the new episodes as “stupid”. True Detective: Night Country comes to us from Tigers Are Not Afraid filmmaker Issa López, who directed and co-wrote all six episodes of the season. To find out what Lopez thought of Pizzolatto’s comments, Vulture reached out to her – and did get a response.

Screen caps of the comments Pizzolatto has made can be found on reddit. In response to a fan who said “I really hope Matthew (McConaughey) had enough respect for what you all did with season 1 to not show up in Night Country,” Pizzolatto said, “I certainly did not have any input on this story or anything else. Can’t blame me. Matthew doesn’t show up, nor would he.”

Another fan asked Pizzolatto, “Do you still have the season 1 lore document? It used to be around on Google, talking about how the Tuttles have a local construction business and whatnot. Apparently (in Night Country) they fund an arctic research station now.” Pizzolatto replied, “Haha. So stupid.“

When asked what she thought of Pizzolatto’s comments, López told Vulture, “I believe that every storyteller has a very specific, peculiar, and unique relation to the stories they create, and whatever his reactions are, he’s entitled to them. That’s his prerogative. I wrote this with profound love for the work he made and love for the people that loved it. And it is a reinvention, and it is different, and it’s done with the idea of sitting down around the fire, and [let’s] have some fun and have some feelings and have some thoughts. And anybody that wants to join is welcome.“

Despite the True Detective creator’s negativity, True Detective: Night Country does seem to be going over very well with a lot of viewers. As Vulture pointed out, the show’s 93% postive critical rating and 66% positive audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes are the highest numbers True Detective has reached since the first season. JoBlo’s own Alex Maidy loved Night Country, giving it a 9/10 review.

True Detective: Night Country picks up after the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, as the six men that 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.

Jodie Foster (The Silence of the Lambs) and professional boxer Kali Reis star alongside John Hawkes (Deadwood), Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who), Fiona Shaw (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1), Finn Bennett (The Nevers), Anna Lambe (The Grizzlies), newcomer Aka Niviâna, Isabella Star Lablanc (Long Slow Exhale), and Joel D. Montgrand (Average Dicks).

What do you think of True Detective: Night Country, and of the comments Nic Pizzolatto has made about it? Let us know by leaving a comment below.