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HBO's new crime thriller True Detective premieres on Sunday, January 12th at 9pm. The show stars Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey and has a great supporting cast that you can read about below. True Detective was created by Nic Pizzolatto and directed by Cary Fukunaga. In a somewhat unique arrangement, Pizzolatto wrote all eight episodes of the first season and Fukunaga directed all of them. True Detective is an anthology series, meaning that there will be a brand new story and cast if it returns for a second season. There's a ton of buzz for this show right now, so tune in next weekend and check it out.
HBO Synopsis said:In 2012, Louisiana State Police Detectives Rust Cohle and Martin Hart are brought in to revisit a homicide case they worked in 1995. As the inquiry unfolds in present day through separate interrogations, the two former detectives narrate the story of their investigation, reopening unhealed wounds, and drawing into question their supposed solving of a bizarre ritualistic murder in 1995. The timelines braid and converge in 2012 as each man is pulled back into a world they believed they'd left behind. In learning about each other and their killer, it becomes clear that darkness lives on both sides of the law.
Written and created by Nic Pizzolatto ('The Killing') and directed by Cary Fukunaga ('Sin Nombre,' 'Jane Eyre'), 'True Detective' stars Woody Harrelson as Martin Hart and Matthew McConaughey as Rust Cohle. The series also stars Michelle Monaghan (Mission: Impossible III') as Maggie, Hart's wife; Kevin Dunn ('Veep') as Major Quesada, the supervising officer in 1995; and Tory Kittles ('Sons of Anarchy') and Michael Potts ('The Wire') as Dets. Papania and Gilbough, the investigators now probing Hart and Cohle for answers.
Cast:
- Woody Harrelson as Martin Hart
- Matthew McConaughey as Rust Cohle
- Michelle Monaghan as Maggie Hart
- Kevin Dunn as Major Quesada
- Tory Kittles as Det. Papania
- Michael Potts as Det. Gilbough
- Alexandra Daddario as Lisa Tragnetti
- Elizabeth Reaser as Laurie
- Jay O. Sanders as Billy Lee Tuttle
- Lili Simmons as Beth
- Shea Whigham as Joel Theriot
Videos:
- Official Trailer
- Trailer #2
- "Changes" Trailer
- "Put 'Em Down" Long Lead Tease
- "Slow Boil" Trailer
- "Tested" Trailer
- Making of True Detective (15 min feature)
- About True Detective (5 minute feature)
- Invitation to the Set
- YahooTV interview with McConaughey and Harrelson (yahoo video player)
- Detective Cohle
- Detective Hart
- "Kings" Trailer
- "Quiet" Trailer
- "Missing" Trailer
- "War" Teaser
- "Bad Men" Teaser
- Christ Tent Revival (sneak peek)

Links:
Interviews and Articles:
- Nola.com: Nic Pizzolatto, New Orleans-born novelist, discusses HBO's upcoming 'True Detective'
- Nola.com: 'True Detective' writer Nic Pizzolatto discusses crime fiction, noir and existential questions
- Nola.com: Writer Nic Pizzolatto discusses how his Louisiana childhood colors 'True Detective'
- Nola.com: 'True Detective' writer Nic Pizzolatto discusses reviving the TV anthology
- Nola.com: 'True Detective' writer Nic Pizzolatto discusses working with stars McConaughey and Harrelson
- Indiewire Interview: Cary Fukunaga Talks HBO's 'True Detective'
- Sky Atlantic to air Matthew McConaughey's 'True Detective' in February
- LA Times: HBO's 'True Detective' with Harrelson, McConaughey is an unusual case
- National Post: HBOs True Detective not following procedurals
- Zap2It: 'True Detective's' Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson reminisce about 'Surfer Dude' and ping pong

Reviews:
Tim Goodman said:True Detective has three immediately impressive attributes. The acting -- by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson -- is off the charts. The writing and the concept, by series creator and novelist Nic Pizzolatto, undulates from effectively brash soliloquies to penetratingly nuanced moments carried by sparse prose. Lastly, director Cary Joji Fukunaga has created a beautiful, sprawling sense of place (the series is shot and set in Louisiana). With Pizzolatto writing all eight episodes and Fukunaga directing all eight, there's an overt sense of shared vision going on (at least in the four episodes sent by HBO). Perhaps that's why this series seems so immediately self-assured, as if it was already in its third season. No doubt the chemistry between McConaughey and Harrelson is the driving force behind that.
Alan Sepinwall said:Based on the mesmerizing first few episodes, McConnaughey is an early favorite to win many TV awards next year, Harrelson isn't far behind him, and the idea of having a single writer and a single director (Cary Fukunaga) has paid off in a show that on paper sounds like so many others, but in practice feels like nothing else.
Kate Arthur said:Ive watched three of the eight episodes of True Detective, and I cant remember a recent show thats excited me more. (And there are a lot of good shows, so that is saying something!) That former goofballs Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey have evolved into two of the most interesting American actors is enough to marvel at; factor in Nic Pizzolattos absorbing murder mystery, which flashes between 1995 and 2012, and youve got a stunner. Its moody, funny, creepy, smart, well-acted, and Pizzolattos writing is like the best crime novel youve ever read. True Detective is an anthology show (like American Horror Story), so Season 1 will be Harrelson/McConaughey, and if theres a second season (there will be), it will be a new story and new cast.
Joanne Ostrow said:Judging by the compelling first two hours, sharp dialog and great acting will make this a DVR must.
Jace Lacob said:If you watch only one new show this year, make it HBO's True Detective. First four episodes are extraordinary: tense, terrifying, sublime.
Jeff Jensen said:Each season of this anthology drama tells a new story with a new cast, but McConaughey and Harrelson are so good, you immediately begin grieving the prospect of getting only eight episodes with them.
Variety said:At first blush, True Detective looks like another brooding cable cop drama, distinguished primarily by the undeniable casting coup of pairing a suddenly red-hot Matthew McConaughey (and who saw that one coming?) and Woody Harrelson. It doesnt take long, though, for this hypnotic series to begin assuming a life of its own, wrapped in a multipronged mystery and featuring one of more unconventional protagonists to walk the beat in a while. Rich and absorbing, this eight-part drama quickly vaults into elite company, offering a singular voice thats unlike almost anything else on TV.
Upcoming Episodes:
"The Long Bright Dark" (Jan. 12) -Former Louisiana State CID partners, Rustin Cohle and Martin Hart, give statements to a pair of investigators about the murder of a prostitute that took place 17 years earlier.
"Seeing Things" (Jan. 19)
"The Locked Room" (Jan. 26)
"Who Goes There" (Feb. 9)
Promo pics:







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