Season 1: 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.
Season 2: A bizarre murder brings together three law-enforcement officers and a career criminal, each of whom must navigate a web of conspiracy and betrayal in the scorched landscapes of California.
Season 3: Season 3 tells the story of a macabre crime involving two missing children in the heart of the Ozarks, a mystery that deepens over decades and plays out in three separate time periods.
Season 4: The fourth season aired in 2024, titled True Detective: Night Country and starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis. It takes place in Alaska and follows the investigation into the sudden disappearance of a team of eight men from a research station.