Original True detective creator doesn't seem to like Night Country: "So stupid"

Nic Pizzolatto is the creator of the HBO show True Detective, and the main creative force behind the first three seasons. So he came up with "time is a flat circle" and had the idea to cast Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as grizzled detectives who discover the truth of the universe through a murder investigation.

But Pizzolatto left the show after season 3. The new season, subtitled Night Country and starring Jodie Foster, is being overseen by Issa López. Ironically, despite Pizzolatto being gone, Night Country has more ties to past seasons of True Detective — particularly season 1, aka the only season people universally agree is great — than any of Pizzolatto's seasons had to each other. Apparently, that rubs Pizzolatto the wrong way, because he's been making some snide comments about Night Country on his Instagram.

For instance, one commenter points out that the Tuttle family, a powerful Louisiana family who factored into season 1, are apparently involved in season 4, where they may fund an arctic research facility in Alaska. "Haha. So stupid," Pizzolatto offered. Another commenter hoped that Matthew McConaughey would have "enough respect" for season 1 not to reprise his role as Rustin Cohle in Night Country, which has hinted that Rust's father is part of the cast. "I certainly did not have any input on this story or anything else. Can't blame me," Pizzolatto wrote. And in another comment: "Matthew doesn't show up. Nor would he."

Finally, one commenter opined that Night Country is "like somebody’s memory of a show, and that memory is fading." Pizzolatto simply commented, "Hah."

I sympathize with Pizzolatto maybe not enjoying seeing someone else handle — perhaps even mishandle —a show he built, but it does seem a touch tacky to bad mouth it in public. Pizzolatto has a bit of a reputation for being tricky to work with; Cary Fukunaga, the director of every episode in True Detective season 1 who went on to direct movies like the James Bond film No Time To Die, detailed some of the ways Pizzolatto could be a pain to The Hollywood Reporter.

"The show was presented to me in the way we pitched it around town — as an independent film made into television. The writer and director are a team. Over the course of the project, Nic kept positioning himself as if he was my boss and I was like, ‘But you’re not my boss. We’re partners. We collaborate.’ By the time they got to postproduction, people like [former programming president] Michael Lombardo were giving Nic more power. It was disheartening because it didn’t feel like the partnership was fair."

After splitting with HBO, Pizzolatto signed a deal with FX, although he left it early. As for Night Country, new episodes air Sunday on HBO and Max.

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h/t Pajiba