Jodie Foster’s ‘True Detective’ Role Revealed in New HBO Preview

Although it feels like Warner Bros. Discovery is more focused on removing things from HBO Max instead of adding things, the company released a teaser for upcoming 2023 programming in an attempt to prove that good shows are still on the way. One of those projects is True Detective: Night Country, the first entry in the anthology crime drama since 2019. HBO included footage of Jodie Foster as the lead detective in the 2023 teaser.

There is a brief shot of Foster as Det. Liz Danvers early in the teaser, before a longer scene is shown. “I’m working on this case,” Danvers says as she is shown looking at something mysterious with focus. “Those men disappeared 48 hours ago,” she says. Danvers is also shown walking into a room with her gun drawn and a suspect with his hands behind his head.

Night Country is the first new season of True Detective since the Mahershala Ali-fronted third season wrapped in February 2019. It was reported that HBO was putting together the new season in March, with Barry Jenkins (Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk) as executive producer and Issa Lopez writing and directing at least the pilot. Foster joined the project in May, with HBO officially greenlighting the season in June. Nic Pizzolatto, who created the series, is not directly involved in the new season.

In Night Country, the case is the mysterious disappearance of six men from a research station in Alaska. Danvers will investigate with the help of her partner, Evangeline Navarro, played by boxing champion Kali Reis. John Hawkes, Christopher Eccleston, Fiona Shaw, Finn Bennett, Anna Lambe, Aka Niviâna, Isabella Star Lablanc, and Joel D. Montgrand round out the main cast. Although the season is set in Alaska, the show was filmed in Iceland. HBO has yet to set a premiere date for the new season.

True Detective started with a bang in 2014, and the first season was considered a milestone in the new “Golden Age of Television.” It starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as Louisiana detectives investigating the murder of a prostitute. The second season followed in 2015, featuring Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch, Kelly Reilly, and Vince Vaughn.

After Season 2 was met with mixed critical reactions, HBO put the show on the back burner. Season 3 finally aired in January and February 2019, and follows Ali as he investigates a crime involving two missing children in the Ozarks over three different time periods. Season 3 was met with a much better response than Season 2, but Pizolatto’s decision to sign an overall deal with FX Productions in 2020 inspired HBO to look at bringing in other writers and producers to keep the series alive.