It’s no mystery that Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson have become frequent collaborators after starring in and executive producing “True Detective” together. Now, original series creator Nic Pizzolatto is teasing that the acting duo might return to the hit HBO series more than 10 years since first starring together in it.
Pizzolatto, who served as an executive producer on “True Detective” Season 4 but has not written for the show since his HBO deal expired after Season 3, said during the “Nothing Left Unsaid” podcast that he is toying with another “story” involving McConaughey and Harrelson’s respective characters, Rust Cohle and Martin Hart. Pizzolatto, McConaughey, and Harrelson recently reunited for a January 2025 ad for True to Texas, with McConaughey and Harrelson back as their “True Detective” characters.
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“I actually have another story for [characters] Cohle and Hart that, who knows, maybe we’ll do it one day,” Pizzolatto said, adding that they all have had conversations “about getting back together and doing it” especially since both McConaughey and Harrelson “are open to it.”
McConaughey and Harrelson only appeared in Season 1 of anthology series “True Detective.” Season 3 included references to their characters, confirming that it was set in the same universe. Season 4 similarly cited the Season 1 storyline.
Pizzolatto continued of his possible project bringing back McConaughey and Harrelson, “It’s not something I’ve written or anything, it’s just in my head, and we’ve talked about getting back together and doing it. I think the guys are open to it, it’s just a question of whether that would ever happen or not.”
“True Detective” Season 4, titled “Night Country,” was written by new showrunner Issa López and starred Jodie Foster, who became the first actor to win an Emmy for “True Detective.” Pizzolatto infamously was critical of the season, saying that how “Night Country” narratively connected to his first season was “so stupid.”
Pizzolatto previously was set to reunite with his “True Detective” star McConaughey for FX drama series “Redeemer” based on Patrick Coleman’s debut novel “The Churchgoer.” The show was scrapped in 2021.
McConaughey has consistently praised Pizzolatto and his experience on “True Detective” Season 1. The actor said in March 2025 that “objectively” the first installment is still his favorite season, despite still serving as an EP for the entire series. “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,” he said. “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.”
