The acclaimed crime drama, True Detective, returns to Sky Atlantic tonight after a five year break – too long! – and here’s our handy recap to what happened in the first three series.
Jodie Foster and Kali Reis front True Detective: Night Country, which follows two detectives as they investigate missing people at a research station in Alaska.
True Detective first landed in 2014, after which season 1 deservedly won a BAFTA, a Critic’s Choice Award, and multiple Emmys. New seasons followed in 2016 and 2019, but the gap to season 4 is its longest ever.
Here’s everything you need to know about True Detective: Night Country, including a handy recap to what happened in series 1 to 3…
What’s True Detective: Night Country about?
True Detective: Night Country takes the noir genre somewhat literally. The series takes place in the fictional Ennis, Alaska, just 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Every winter, Ennis is plunged into perpetual darkness due to its geographical position – a polar night.
Ennis is a remote town inhabited mainly by the mining community and the local Indigenous community. There is bad blood between the two groups due to the unsolved murder of a Native woman years prior to the events of the new series. Frustrated by the lack of progress on that case, Detective Evangeline Nevarro (Kali Reis) left both the police force and her old boss Detective Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) behind.
However, when eight international scientists at the nearby Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace, Liz and Evangeline are thrust together once more to confront their own demons as well as those that haunt Ennis.
Do I need to have watched series 1 to 3 to understand True Detective: Night Country?
No, you don’t need to have watched the previous series of True Detective to enjoy Night Country. True Detective is an anthology series, meaning every season features new characters and a unique story. Long-term fans won’t have any special advantage over fans watching True Detective: Night Country with no prior knowledge of the show.
However, you’d be mad not to catch up on series 1 t0 3, because they’re frankly rather good.
True Detective series 1-3 recap: What happened in season 1?
Set over the course of 17 years, season 1 of True Detective told the story of Louisiana homicide detectives Rustin “Rust” Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin “Marty” Hart (Woody Harrelson) and their investigation into multiple linked murders.
The series opened in 2012, when former partners Rust and Marty were interviewed by police about a case they solved years earlier. Marty and Rust agreed to share their story.
In 1995, the pair were young detectives working on the murder of Dora Lange. Lange’s body was found posed in a prayer position, wearing a deer antler crown and twig sculptures known as devil’s nests.
As the Lange case became public knowledge, televangelist Reverend Billy Lee Tuttle demanded a police task force dedicated to anti-Christian crimes. Marty and Rust refused to hand their case over to the task force.
They tracked Lange’s home down to a brothel called The Ranch, where they found some of her things. These eventually led them to her Church, and pastor, who confirmed Lange was seen in the company of a man with strange scars.
True Detective series 1-3 recap: Rust and Marty discovered more deaths
During their investigation, the pair also discovered other deaths with similar occult-like symbols to Lange’s murder scene. Rianne Olivier’s death, deemed accidental at the time, for instance. Looking into Olivier, Marty and Rust discovered that she attended a Christian school run by Tuttle.
The pair paid a visit to the school, but found it abandoned apart from a groundskeeper. They checked up on Olivier’s personal life, and discovered her boyfriend Reggie Ledoux was a cell-mate of Lange’s incarcerated ex-husband Charlie.
Speaking to Charlie, he claimed Ledoux discussed sacrificing children and made meth for a biker gang called the Iron Crusaders. Rust, familiar with the Iron Crusaders, went undercover to attempt to discover Reggie’s whereabouts.
They are subsequently led to a hideout in the woods operated by Reggie and his cousin Dewall, where they discovered abused children. Marty shot and killed Reggie. Dewall was also killed as he tried to escape.
Marty and Rust staged the scene to look like a shoot out. They are hailed for solving the Lange case.
True Detective series 1-3 recap: Marty and Rust got the wrong person
They get away with it until 2012, when a murder suspect revealed Marty and Rust got the wrong person for the Lange murder. They returned to the crime scene, where they discovered new devil’s nests have been placed at the scene. Rust discovered that one of Tuttle’s ministries has covered up years of missing children and abuse.
The head of police ordered Rust to stand down on re-opening the case, and Marty agreed with him. Marty’s wife Maggie, looking for an excuse to end her marriage, seduced Rust. When Marty learned this, he flew into a rage and attacked Rust. Rust left the police force and the state.
Rust and Marty reunited and solved the case
Towards the end of True Detective series 1, we returned to the scene in 2012. The police revealed they wanted to link Rust’s reappearance in town to a series of mysterious events including the death of Tuttle. Both Rust and Marty walked out of their interviews and decided to team up again to solve the murder of Dora Lange once and for all.
Rust explained to Marty that since they parted ways, he had found more seemingly-linked killings. The pair continued where they left off, interviewing associates of Ledoux and Tuttle. They learnt that Tuttle’s father had an illegitimate child with the Childress family, leading to a grandson matching the description of Lange’s church-going friend.
Marty and Rust tracked down Errol Childress, and discovered he was the same groundskeeper they met all those years ago at Olivier’s school. They realised he is the true killer of Dora Lange and Rianne Olivier, and a chase ensued.
Errol leds them through a maze he had constructed littered with devil’s nests and human remains. The three engaged in a fight that left both Marty and Rust critically injured, before Rust killed Errol. The police arrived just in time to save the pair.
True Detective series 1-3 recap: What happened in season 2 of True Detective?
Season 2 of True Detective relocated to California and explored political and police corruption. Colin Farrell starred as bent copper Raymond “Ray” Velcoro, while Rachel McAdams played county detective Antigone “Ani” Bezzerides, and Taylor Kitsch portrayed Highway Patrol officer Paul Woodrugh.
The series opened as Ben Caspere, a city manager, disappeared shortly before an important meeting, frustrating his criminal partner Frank Semyon. Frank recruited Ray Velcoro to help him find Caspere.
Elsewhere, suspended Highway Patrol officer Paul Woodrugh found the body of Caspere on a bench, his eyes burnt out with acid.
Ray, along with fellow detective Teague Dixon, were officially tasked with finding Caspere’s killer. Ani Bezzerides, who was secretly investigating Ray, joined their investigation. As did Paul, who was hoping to put in a good name for himself after his suspension.
Frank revealed Caspere went missing with $5 million of Frank’s money. The detectives discovered that Caspere had been working closely with Mayor Chessani’s son Tony.
They then discovered that Caspere had been burgled by a prostitute, Irina, shortly before his death. Expecting any stolen goods to be with Irina’s pimp Amarilla, they set up a raid on his warehouse. Things went wrong during the raid, however, when it led to a fatal shootout – which killed Teague.
Amarilla managed to escape and the police shot out through the streets to get him, killing multiple civilians. Eventually, Ray and Paul killed Amarilla. The event became known as the Vinci Massacre, and the Caspere’s murder investigation was closed.
The Caspere case was reopened
Several months later and following a change in local politics, the Caspere case was reopened. Ray, Ani and Paul were again tasked with finding the real killer and their connection to local corrupt politicians.
During their new investigation, Paul discovered a set of blue diamonds were stolen from Caspere’s home. When he traced the history of these diamonds, he realised that they had previously been stolen by a group of corrupt police officials including Caspere, Teague, Police Chief Holloway, and Lieutenant Burris. He realised that the Vinci Massacre was orchestrated to ensure Teague’s death, ensuring Holloway and Burris’ crimes did not become public.
Meanwhile, Ani infiltrated a party where she recognised multiple corrupt police figures in attendance, and Ray discovered that Frank’s criminal business partners were working against him. Frank’s former partners had turned on him.
The detectives know too much
Paul, Ray, Ani and Frank realised they now knew too much and were in grave danger. They began moving their loved ones out of Vinci, while Paul started receiving blackmail messages. When he confronted his blackmailer in person, he learnt that it was Chief Holloway. Holloway demanded Paul turn over all of the dirt he had on them, but Paul refused. Before Paul could escape, Burris killed him.
Ray then tricked Holloway into confessing his crimes on a wire, but Holloway was attacked. Ani and Burris tried to intervene, but the wire was destroyed and Holloway died.
Ani fled to Venezuela, while Ray and Frank attacked a business meeting and killed many of the rivals – stealing $12 million in the process. Frank was then captured and killed by the cartel for refusing to return the money. Ray said goodbye to his son, before engaging in a shootout with Burris where he was eventually killed.
Months later, corruption in Vinci continued as though nothing had happened. Ani, now living in Venezuela, spoke to a journalist, with the hope she could make a difference.
True Detective series 1-3 recap: What happened in season 3 of True Detective?
Set in the Ozarks over three decades, season 3 of True Detective told the story of detective Wayne Hays (Mahershala Ali) and his partner Roland West (Stephen Dorff).
Season 3 followed a similar structure to season 1. In 2015, retired detective Wayne Hays was being interviewed for a true crime documentary. The investigation of missing children Will and Julie Purcell, a major case in his long career, came up. Now elderly and suffering from dementia, Wayne struggled to recollect his memories.
In 1980, Wayne and his partner Roland West were investigating Will and Julie Purcell’s disappearance. The children had a troubled home life, with their alcoholic father Tom and estranged mother Lucy.
Wayne discovered Will’s body in a cave, posed as though in prayer and surrounded by white dolls. Later, The Purcells received an anonymous letter stating that Julie was alive.
Wayne and Roland spoke to a farmer who believed he saw Will and Julie in the woods, close to a car with a black man and white woman. They also met the woman who made the white dolls found near Will’s body, who claimed a black man with a milky eye bought them from her.
Town locals suspected Brett Woodard, a local trash collector, of the crime. Though he was one of the last people to see Will and Julie alive, he was also the regular victim of racism. When a vigilante mob attempted to bring Woodard to justice, he fought back in self defence, killing civilians. Wayne was forced to kill Woodard, and was shaken by the experience.
Following Woodard’s death, police discovered Tom’s backpack inside his home, prompting them to close the case.
Wayne and Roland apprehended Harris
Wayne’s girlfriend, Amelia, wrote a news article criticising police mishandling of the case. When Wayne was asked to denounce the article by his superiors, he refused, and was demoted. He and Roland fell out, as Roland remained loyal to the police.
In 1990, Wayne and Amelia were happily married, and Amelia had written a book on the Purcell case. Wayne learnt that Julie’s fingerprints were discovered at the scene of a local robbery and the original case was reopened.
Wayne and Roland made amends and searched together for Julie. Since the original case, Tom was now sober and Lucy had died of an overdose.
Wayne and Roland looked into the officer who found Will’s backpack at Woodard’s house, leading them to former police detective Harris James. He then worked as head of security for the powerful Hoyt family.
Wayne discovered Harris visited Lucy before her death and could have orchestrated her overdose. He suspected whatever happened to the Purcell children must have had something to do with the Hoyt family.
Wayne and Roland apprehended Harris in order to interrogate him, but Harris fought back. A struggle ensued and the pair killed Harris. The Hoyt family then threatened Wayne to drop the investigation, which he did.
True Detective series 1-3 recap: Somebody is following Wayne in 2015
In 2015, Wayne thought he was being followed, though nobody would believe him due to his worsening dementia. Eventually, he discovered his stalker was Junius, the black man with a milky eye who had previously denied any involvement in the case.
Junius admitted the truth to Wayne: Junius looked after the Hoyt family daughter Isabel. Isabel struggled with her mental health following the deaths of her husband and daughter. She believed Lucy’s daughter Julie looked like her dead daughter, so Junius paid Lucy to let Isabel play with Julie. Isabel then tried to steal Julie, prompting Will to intervene. Will was killed in the ensuing struggle.
Harris paid Lucy off to keep her quiet, and allowed Isabel to keep Julie, who grew up in the Hoyt home. Eventually, Junius felt guilty and helped Julie escape to a convent. He and Wayne visited the convent, but they were too late – Julie had passed away.
Later, Wayne read his wife Amelia’s book on the case. He realised that Mike, the groundskeeper at the convent, was Julie’s childhood crush, and his daughter Lucy must be Julie’s daughter. Julie was in fact alive and living happily with her new family. Wayne rushed to Julie’s home to see if his deductions were correct, but suffered a bout of memory loss, forgetting why he was there.
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True Detective: Night Country airs on Sky Atlantic/Now at 2am and 9pm on Mondays.
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