True Detective season 4 in development at HBO without creator Nic Pizzolatto

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Two years ago, True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto said that he had a "really, really wild" idea for season 4 of the show, a "kind of crazy" idea that needed to percolate for a while. Either it's still percolating or it's just not going to happen, because Casey Bloys, chief content officer at HBO and HBO Max, has revealed to Deadline that the network is currently trying to develop True Detective season 4 with writers other than Pizzolatto.

Bloys told the site, 

It’s safe to say we’re working with a couple of writers to find the right tone and take. It’s definitely an area that could be very interesting and I think it would be interesting with a new voice. Quality is what’s going to guide us so if we end up with scripts that we don’t feel are representative or are not at a high enough quality, we’re not going to do something just to do it." 

Deadline has heard speculation that these writers could be Euphoria creator Sam Levinson and Lucia Puenzo, co-creator of the Argentine drama Cromo.

Pizzolatto tried to re-team True Detective season 1 star Matthew McConaughey on a series called Redeemer at FX, part of an overall deal he has with FX Productions and 20th Television. FX decided not to move forward with Redeemer, so now Pizzolatto is trying to extract himself from that deal. From what Deadline has heard, "if True Detective is to move forward, it will likely be without (Pizzolatto's) direct involvement."

It's disappointing to hear that there might be a season of True Detective that doesn't come from Pizzolatto, but if Levinson, Puenzo, or someone else is able to come up with something really good, it could make up for the creator's absence.

I really want to know what Pizzolatto's wild and crazy idea was, though.