True Detective: Night Country
Everything you need to know about True Detective: Night Country: Plot, Release Date, Cast
With the fourth instalment of True Detective having arrived in January 2024 and a fifth season confirmed, now is the perfect time to get caught up on all four seasons. For those of you who have been living under a rock, True Detective is a crime anthology series which first hit screens in 2014. Each season welcomes a new detective (or two), who is tasked with investigating a police case.
Season OneSeason one was a huge success story, earning critical acclaim and being heralded as contributing to the revival of Matthew McConaughey’s career – a period later referred to as the “McConaissance”. The series saw McConaughey star alongside Woody Harrelson as homicide detectives, who – 17 years later – still share a mutual obsession to solve their most notorious case: a murder of a sex worker.
Season TwoThe second season came hot off the heels of S1 - airing in 2015 – this time with Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams at the helm playing Californian detectives. This time the story centred on a murder case which brings together three officers from three separate police departments and a career criminal played by Vince Vaughn.
Season ThreeAfter a four-year hiatus, in 2019 the third season of True Detective hit screens with the series set in the Ozarks and spanning over three decades. Mahershala Ali played the lead role of Detective Wayne Hays – a retired detective who has been tormented for decades by a case involving the disappearance of a 12-year-old boy and his younger sister.
Season FourAfter years of waiting, True Detective returned in January 2024 with a brand-new series True Detective: Night Country. Set in Alaska during the darkness of winter, the fourth season welcomed Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as the new detectives who are tasked with investigating when eight men who operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace.
The official synopsis released by Sky reads:
“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 (Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Reis) will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice.”
Tempted? Have a watch of the official trailer to get a taste of what you can expect from True Detective: Night Country.
Watch the Season Four Trailer
What is the release date for Season 4 of True Detective?
True Detective: Night Country premiered in the UK on Monday 15 January, exclusively on Sky Atlantic.
Episodes dropped weekly on Sky Atlantic in the UK. All episodes of Series 1 – 4 of True Detective are available to watch now on Sky Atlantic.
Where can I watch True Detective in the UK?
Season 4 of True Detective is available on Sky Atlantic in the UK. All episodes of Series 1 – 3 of True Detective are available to watch now on Sky Atlantic. True Detective is not available to watch on Netflix.
Who is in Season 4 of True Detective?
As was the case with the previous three, the fourth season of True Detective – titled True Detective: Night Country – welcomed a brand-new cast with Jodie Foster in a lead role playing Detective Danvers. In addition to Jodie Foster, Season Four sees Kali Reis play Detective Navarro.
Where does Season 4 take place?
The brand-new season of True Detective takes place in Alaska, where the darkness of the Arctic winter adds to the difficulty of police investigations.
Will there be a True Detective Season 5?
Yes, it has been confirmed that True Detective will be returning for a fifth season.
Showrunner Issa López confirmed in an interview with Variety that she was working on a new story with "different characters, different setting, different story".
Asked where she was in the process, she said in June 2024: "In the writing. And it’s a blast. It’s completely different. There’s different characters, different setting, different story — and I’m enjoying it like crazy.
"It’s a completely different adventure. Let’s put it that way."
Will I still be able to watch True Detective on Sky with HBO Max launching?
Don’t worry – you won’t miss a thing.
Sky Atlantic will continue to air upcoming seasons of much-loved HBO shows that have previously aired on Sky, including House of the Dragon, The Last of Us and The White Lotus alongside homegrown Sky Originals and exclusive Peacock Originals straight from the US.
Plus, if you have Sky Ultimate TV or Sky Q with an eligible package, you will have HBO Max Basic with Ads included as part of your Sky subscription. So not only will you still have a full back catalogue of your favourite series – including Game of Thrones, The Sopranos and Friends – but you’ll also get brand new HBO Max Original titles like the Emmy Award-winning The Pitt. Sky+ customers will also be able to watch HBO Max Basic with Ads content through their home page.
But we’re not stopping there. From March 2026, Sky is bringing together HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+ and (from July 2026) Hayu all under a single subscription. That means millions of existing customers will get unrivalled access to unmissable entertainment as part of their Sky TV subscription!
For more information on how Sky TV is getting even better – click here!
And what about NOW subscribers?
This March, existing NOW Entertainment customers will get HBO Max Basic with Ads included in their membership at no extra cost and fully integrated into the NOW platform, bringing even more must-see series from HBO Max alongside Sky Originals and exclusive US shows. HBO Max Basic with Ads will drop into your membership automatically, so you don’t need to do a thing.
True Detective available now on Sky Atlantic and NOW
Learn more about True Detective
True Detective: Night Country reviews
“a freezing, horrific return to form”
The Times 
“A blazing Jodie Foster makes this show better than ever before”
The Guardian “Fierce and richly imagined”
BBC “Foster and Reis make incredible scene partners in this dark and gritty story”
Yahoo! Entertainment “A nerve-shredding reminder of what TV drama can achieve”
The Telegraph “Jodie Foster is electric on her first return to TV in 50 years”
Evening Standard 
How to watch
New to Sky? Buy now and start watching today on compatible devices on Sky Go.