Does True Detective S4 Take Place in the Same Universe as S1? Connections Explained

Summary:

• After a long wait, viewers finally saw the fourth season of True Detective, where the most attentive ones already noticed references to the first season.
• It's safe to say that Seasons 1 and 4 take place in the same universe, as the characters drink the Lone Star brand of beer.
• Moreover, the seasons are united by the spiral symbol.
• Rust Cohle mentioned in Season 1 that he lived in Alaska and that his father's name was Travis – the setting of the new season is the town of Ennis, Alaska, and there is a character named Travis.

The modern TV series in its current form was created not only by The Sopranos, but also by True Detective. However, unlike other titles, HBO's brainchild was destined for a difficult fate.

Night Country Had a Long And Difficult Journey

The first season created a sensation, the second turned out to be a devastating failure (undeservedly), which is why the third season was first postponed, and after its release, despite positive reviews, it failed to gain widespread recognition.

Fans had to wait five years for the release of the fourth season. The standard production schedule for a season is one year, but HBO bosses weren't confident of success, so the release of the project was delayed for a long time.

And judging by the first positive reviews, it was absolutely in vain.

Do Season 1 And Season 4 Share the Same Universe?

Expectations were especially high for the fourth season, because the previous two seasons were built on a similar structure and tried to repeat the experience of the first one.

But the new one announced something new: female characters, a mysterious subtitle for a familiar title and quite a lot of references to the history of Cohle and Hart.

It made many viewers wonder – do the first and fourth seasons share the same universe? Judging by the Easter eggs and references, yes.

First Reference: The Spiral

The most obvious hint was the spiral that recurred throughout the first season's plot and reappeared in the fourth; Liz Danvers, played by Jodie Foster, sits in the center of a spiral composed of all the evidence in Annie's case, and we also notice a spiral on the dead man's forehead.

In the first season, the spiral was a symbol for Hastur, the supreme evil worshipped by the cultists. Whether this symbol will be revealed differently in the new season remains to be seen.

Second Reference: The Lone Star Beer

Another reference that we literally see in the first minutes of the first episode is the Lone Star brand beer that the aged Rust Cohle drank during the whole interview in the first season.

Tarantino also uses this trick – in his movies you can see the brand of Red Apple cigarettes, which gave rise to theories that all of the director's works take place in the same universe, which Quentin himself later confirmed.

Third Reference: The Location

But the most intriguing clue so far is the location itself. The crimes take place in Alaska, in the town of Ennis, and as fans of the first season will recall, Cohle said that he lived in Alaska after Case Number 419, which he worked on in the 1990s.

Also, Rust's father's name was Travis, and the new season features a character with that name who looks suspiciously like McConaughey's character. But there's a catch: he's dead.

The new season still has time and space to pick up the pace and surprise viewers with some unusual new philosophies, complex character relationships, and unexpected plot twists. And, of course, reveal connections to the first season.

The second episode of Night Country will air January 21 on Max.