“True Detective: Night Country” star Kali Reis spoke out against franchise creator Nic Pizzolatto for shading the newest installment of the HBO crime series on social media.
Reis, who stars as Det. Evangeline Navarro in the Alaska-set mystery, defended the fourth season despite the “True Detective” creator’s harsh appraisal, saying, “That’s a damn shame.”
On Monday, Reis retweeted a post from New Republic TV critic Phillip Maciak reading, “You may have liked the ‘True Detective’ finale or you may have hated the ‘True Detective’ finale, but one thing is indisputable: Nic Pizzolatto is on Instagram, posting other people’s stories about how Issa López ruined the franchise like an absolutely enormous baby.”
“But hey, I guess ‘If you don’t have anything good to share, s–t on others’ is the new wave,” Reis wrote in her quote-tweet.
🙄😐 That’s a damn shame…but hey I guess “if you don’t have anything good to share, shit on others” is the new wave 🤷🏽♀️ lol https://t.co/4EOvu0oPSu
— Kali Reis (@KO_Reis86) February 20, 2024
Since the fourth season premiered in January, Pizzolatto has reposted several social media posts critiquing the mystery, led by actors Reis and Jodie Foster. Though Pizzolatto remains credited as an executive producer, he has distanced himself from the season, which was created, written and directed by Issa López.
A new wave of criticisms came flooding in on Sunday and Monday following the “Night Country” finale. Pizzolatto reshared posts on Monday to his Instagram saying that “HBO should have stuck with” him and admonishing López’s dialogue as the “sloppiest writing” ever seen.
Specifically, some Season 1 fans took issue with the Easter eggs included in the newest installment — including reprising the line “time is a flat circle” in the “Night Country” finale. Pizzolatto promoted a post saying the new season “butchered” and “misappropriated” the “classic dialogue.”
Responding herself to Pizzolatto’s posts, López appeared unbothered, brushing off the evaluation of the season as “his prerogative.”
“I believe that every storyteller has a very specific, peculiar and unique relation to the stories they create, and whatever his reactions are, he’s entitled to them. That’s his prerogative,” López said in an interview with Vulture. “I wrote this with profound love for the work he made and love for the people that loved it.”
Beyond López, fans shamed Pizzolatto for blasting the new season, which has outpaced viewership for Season 1 as it become the most-watched season of “True Detective” yet. Many called Pizzolatto a “sore loser.”
All four seasons of “True Detective” are available to stream on Max.