Sky and HBO's biggest new crime drama series gets some very welcome news

It had been a long time coming when True Detective: Night Country hit the silver screen earlier this year – the original True Detective show had been absent from TV programming for nearly five years by that point.

Thankfully, though, the fourth season of the anthology franchise was a roaring success, with major plaudits coming the way of its leads Jodie Foster and Kali Reis. Pretty soon after the season started to air, we got confirmation that it would be coming back for a fifth outing, too. 

True Detective: Night Country | Official Trailer | Max - YouTube

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Now, though, its showrunner has gone into more detail on how that'll work, and crucially has confirmed that it will once again tell a single story in the anthology format, rather than trying to keep going with the same characters.

This has been a key part of the dramatic arc of each True Detective season, right from the very start, so it's really reassuring for fans of the series to hear that nothing is being torn up simply because of the last season's rip-roaring success. 

Issa López, the series' current showrunner, told Variety that it would be a completely new story next time out, with new characters and dynamics to explore, and therefore an entirely new mystery. This fits with form, as we've explained, but doesn't rule out the possibility of some links.

After all, Night Country brought motifs from the first season of True Detective back to the fore for fans who'd been watching since the start, something that gained it plenty of praise, so we might well get more hints and details along those lines. 

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Without wanting to give away any spoilers for those who haven't seen or finished that fourth season, Issa López also discussed the question of a major character's fate at the end of last season. She indicated that it was left deliberately open-ended and that people can therefore interpret it how they like – that's the sort of weird and counter-intuitive storytelling that we want from True Detective. 

So, this might all mean that it's time to strap in for a hefty wait for news about the next season, from casting to themes and location – there are a whole heap of questions that still need answers. Whenever it arrives, though, you can be sure it'll come to Sky in the UK and HBO's Max platform in the US – each of which aims to be the best streaming service for lovers of serious drama.