True Detective star Matthew McConaughey shares his honest thoughts on Night Country and reveals which season is still his favorite. Created by Nic Pizzolatto, HBO’s anthology crime drama premiered in 2014, with season 1 following McConaughey’s Rust Cohle and Woody Harrelson’s Marty Hart as they investigate a series of murders over several decades in Louisiana. After an acclaimed debut outing, later seasons of True Detective were met with more mixed receptions, including season 4, subtitled Night Country, which hailed from showrunner Issa López and starred Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as detectives in Alaska.

In a recent interview with Variety, McConaughey shares some brief thoughts on True Detective: Night Country, saying that he “appreciated” elements of it. The actor says that it’s still season 1 that is his favorite, though, and he calls the eight-episode debut “one of the great events in TV.” Check out McConaughey’s full comment below:

“I watched, I saw it. Yeah, there’s a lot about it that I appreciated. My favorite season — and I feel like I can say this objectively — is Season 1. I happen to be in that one, so I thought that was incredible, incredible television and a great series. I watched it weekly, like everyone else, on Sunday night, and that was an event for me. And I got to sit back and enjoy that. I loved the water cooler talk on Monday morning. Even though I made it, I sort of forgot what was going to happen next. It was one of the great events in TV.”

What McConaughey’s Review Means For True Detective

Night Country Was Divisive

Jodie Foster as Liz Danvers looking suspicious in True Detective Night Country

It’s a common sentiment that True Detective season 1 is the best. Season 2 reviews were mixed and season 3’s generally better, but neither season quite recaptured the sensation that was season 1. When Night Country premiered and reviews emerged, though, it was widely hailed as the best season of the show since the debut in 2014. As seen in the chart below, Night Country reviews were glowing from critics, but the audience response was far more mixed:

True Detective Seasons On Rotten Tomatoes

Season
RT Critics’ Score
RT Popcornmeter

1
92%
91%

2
47%
30%

3
84%
58%

Night Country
93%
56%

Despite a vocal outpouring of negativity towards Night Country online, it still stands as the most-watched season of True Detective. Combined with the positive critical consensus, HBO opted to greenlight True Detective season 5 with López returning as showrunner. Season 5 will once again embrace the show’s anthology format, with the story set to take place in Jamaica Bay, New York. There have been repeated calls for McConaughey and Harrelson to return for a sequel to True Detective season 1, but Night Country‘s success and discouraging comments from Pizzolatto himself suggest this will likely never happen.

Our Take On McConaughey’s True Detective Comments

Why Season 1 Remains So Beloved

Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in the car in True Detective season 1

What the best season of True Detective is will, of course, be a matter of personal preference, but it could certainly be argued that no season has been able to recapture the magic of season 1 just yet. In addition to career-best performances from McConaughey and Harrelson, the season presented a compelling mystery with hints of the supernatural. It was unpredictable, tragic, and sometimes disturbing, and episode 4 remains arguably the best in the show’s history, featuring a jaw-dropping one-take action sequence.

At this point, it seems unlikely that any new season will be able to touch season 1, both because of season 1’s actual quality but also because it has been built up to occupy a position of reverence within the True Detective fandom. Though Night Country arguably struggled to land the plane in later episodes, there was, as McConaughey says, plenty to admire, and López could take learnings from her debut season to make season 5 even better.