It’s been 11 years since HBO’s best TV shows has inspired attempts to recreate their magic with similar concepts or franchise expansions, with some proving more difficult to replicate than others.

True Detective season 1 is one such show that HBO has tried to capitalize on the popularity of since 2014, but has struggled to find that lightning in a bottle again. Created by Nic Pizzolatto, True Detective season 1 is led by Matthew McConaughey as Rust Cohle and Woody Harrelson as Marty Hart, two Louisiana detectives whose dark investigation into a cruel and supernaturally-linked serial killer is explored across a 17-year time period. With widespread critical acclaim, influential narrative devices, and impressive cast performances, True Detective season 1 set a completely new standard for storytelling in mystery crime dramas.

True Detective Season 1 Is One Of The Greatest Mystery TV Show Outings Of All Time

True Detective Season 1 Set A Brand-New Standard For TV Crime Mysteries

The overwhelmingly positive reviews for True Detective season 1 only say so much about the TV outing’s genre influence, groundbreaking story and character building, stellar performances by two iconic generational actors, and a masterful ability to craft a setting, mood, and ambience into its own character. It isn’t just the complex changes, betrayals, and sacrifices within Marty and Rust’s partnership and friendship that makes True Detective so compelling, but all the existential themes, unique explorations of the human spirit and the battles between goodness and evil, Louisiana settings, and twisted crimes that make the series stand apart from other crime mysteries.

It’s the way that Marty and Rust’s personal lives, tragedies, guilt, and flaws seep into and influence their investigation in such a quiet yet simultaneously overwhelming manner that makes the investigation so absorbing. Of course, that can’t be accomplished without some career-best performances by McConaughey and Harrelson, whose chemistry, brilliant line readings, and ability to completely throw themselves into their characters turn two complicated detectives into some of the most captivating, frustrating, and mysterious personalities on the small screen. Not to mention, their characters’ dark, occult-laced investigations and musings are grounded and contrasted by the complexities of Michelle Monaghan’s Maggie Hart.

For as many popular murder mystery stories as there are in novels, movies, and TV shows, it becomes a greater task to craft such a twisted yet not quite superfluously tragic and confounded mystery that is able to so distinctly stand apart from others in the genre. However, Pizzolatto miraculously does so with True Detective. The Dora Lange murder changed the way in which such dark murder investigations could be played out in a serial narrative, while somehow making the discovery of such a mesmerizing and shocking truth less interesting than the truth’s impact on its characters and philosophical musings.

True Detective season 1 is also a masterclass in how to effectively create a specific tone and atmosphere from the offset, which has as much bearing on its powerful storytelling as the cast performances, script, and central mystery at hand.

Over a decade later, True Detective season 1 still has one of the most memorable, haunting, and suspenseful murder mysteries to play out in a single season of TV. Its dark horror elements, ominous tone, and clever script already make its narrative approach so unique, with True Detective season 1’s peculiar supernatural aspects like Carcosa and The Yellow King as well as the striking, distinguishing Cajun-influenced or religious, occult-associated cultural factors of the southern Louisiana setting adding even deeper layers of intrigue, and perhaps unease and unfamiliarity, to the ever-elusive crime Rust and Marty are investigating.

On a technical standpoint, True Detective season 1 is also a masterclass in how to effectively create a specific tone and atmosphere from the offset, which has as much bearing on its powerful storytelling as the cast performances, script, and central mystery at hand. The direction and cinematography both elevate the series’ unsettling, stomach-churning, and haunting narrative material and make its darkest moments impossible to look away from. The show relies just as much on its cinematic atmosphere and setting to establish the ominous tone of its criminal investigation, which carries on through True Detective season 1’s chilling final moments.

HBO Failed To Repeat True Detective Season 1's Success With 3 Subsequent Anthology Seasons

The Show Has Yet To Match Or Sur Season 1's Prestige

After True Detective season 1 became a massive cultural TV phenomenon, HBO tried its hand at continuing its success by turning it into an anthology series. Therefore, when True Detective season 2 arrived in 2015, expectations were set extremely high, despite the fact that it would involve a brand-new cast (including Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell, and Rachel McAdams), a brand-new murder mystery, and a brand-new location. Ultimately, season 2’s attempt to double-down on the eccentricities and darkness of season 1 didn’t pay off, receiving mixed reviews and unfavorable comparisons to its predecessor.

Even though True Detective season 2 was considered a major step down from season 1, HBO and Nic Pizzolatto gave the franchise another shot in 2019 with True Detective season 3. This time around, the criticisms and missteps of season 2 were properly addressed and improved upon, making True Detective season 3 a greater return to form and an optimistic demonstration of the series’ potential as an anthology. Still, despite incredible performances by Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff, the third outing wasn’t able to gather the same widespread acclaim and audience enthusiasm as season 1.

True Detective season 5 was renewed by HBO in February 2024, and will be helmed by Night Country creator Issa López.

A few years later, HBO returned with another season of True Detective. However, this entry wasn’t created or written by Nic Pizzolatto. Following two detectives in Alaska investigating the disappearances of a group of researchers with some potentially supernatural elements, True Detective season 4 felt as close to season 1’s chilling atmosphere and tortured-soul character exploration that the series had come in subsequent outings. Plus, with True Detective: Night Country’s cast being led by Oscar winner Jodie Foster, the show had great potential to repeat season 1’s success.

However, while True Detective season 4 was off to a great start, even debuting with 100% on True Detective’s iconic spiral symbol, an unfulfilling inclusion of Rust Cohle’s deceased father Travis, and the repetition of one of Rust Cohle’s most iconic philosophical quotes. Additionally, the outing’s finale and murder mystery resolution proved extremely divisive, keeping yet another entry from meeting or suring season 1’s prestige.

The Closest HBO Has Come To Repeating True Detective Season 1's Magic Is In Other Miniseries

Sharp Objects & Mare Of Easttown Are Among HBO's Best Crime Mysteries Since True Detective Season 1

While HBO has struggled to repeat True Detective season 1’s quality and extraordinary crime mystery storytelling within its own anthology series, there are other later HBO shows in which comparable feats have been achieved. For instance, some similar character-building, setting-based, and tonal elements that made True Detective season 1 such a phenomenal murder mystery narrative can also be found in the 2018 miniseries Sharp Objects, starring Amy Adams. While more ensemble-focused with less existential pessimism, another high-quality HBO crime mystery comparable to True Detective season 1 is 2021’s Kate Winslet-starring miniseries Mare of Easttown.

The success of Sharp Objects and Mare of Easttown as limited series further a retrospective belief about True Detective’s popularity, namely that season 1’s prestige may have been more deeply ingrained had the show’s overall reputation not been harmed by its subsequent anthology outings. Had True Detective season 1 still stood on its own today as the only “True Detective” property, its title would only be judged by the powerful influence, novelty, and merits of that specific story, rather than becoming a more uneven and complex multi-season entity that is hurt the most by comparisons to itself.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes