‘True Detective’ Creator Nic Pizzolatto Dragged as ‘Pathetic and Petty,’ ‘Sore Loser’ for Dissing Season 4

“Night Country” from creator Issa López wrapped Sunday on HBO

True-detective
Jodie Foster in "True Detective: Night Country" and Matthew McConaughey in "True Detective" Season 1 (Credit: HBO)

“True Detective” creator Nic Pizzolatto, who oversaw the first three seasons of the acclaimed HBO limited series, again promoted criticisms of the fourth season, “Night Country,” which wrapped on Sunday under the leadership of Issa López.

Fans of the show weren’t having it.

“‘True Detective’s’ fourth season was so bad, it was the most-watched season of the show ever,” NPR TV critic Eric Deggans wrote, retweeting screenshots from Pizzolatto’s Instagram posts sharing fan’s discontent with the “Night Country” finale. “Instead, of counting his money and thanking Issa López for rescuing his franchise with an amazing series, Nic Pizzolato seems determined to show what a sore loser he is.”

“You may have liked the ‘True Detective’ finale or you may have hated the ‘True Detective’ finale,” New Republic TV critic Phillip Maciak posted on X. “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.”

Film and TV journalist Rendy Jones assessed that the franchise creator is “too grown to look this pathetic and petty.”

“You can just not care and get your exec producer bag in silence. Now you’re just looking like a child,” Jones wrote.

issa-lopez-true-detective-night-country
Read Next
'True Detective: Night Country' Creator Issa López Responds to Nic Pizzolatto's Criticism: 'That's His Prerogative'

Other “Night Country” fans were more venomous in their takedowns, with journalist Brian Richards posting, “Nic Pizzolatto (and all of the f–kboys and pick-mes on here) can shut the f–k up and have all of the damn seats.”

On Monday afternoon, Pizzolatto reshared — and later deleted — posts from “True Detective” fans denouncing “Night Country” as featuring “some of the sloppiest writing I’ve ever watched.”

It’s not the first time Pizzolatto has been slyly critical of the newest season, either. Responding to fan concerns on reddit last month, the series creator wiped his hands clean of their dissatisfaction with “Night Country,” writing, “Can’t blame me.”

López soon enough responded in kind.

“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,” she 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.”

You can view screenshots of Pizzolatto’s Instagram story, along with tweets of “Night Country” fans running to López’s defense, below.

Jodie-Foster-True-Detective
Read Next
'True Detective: Night Country' Creator Answers Burning Finale Questions

Benjamin Lindsay

Benjamin is Deputy Managing Editor at TheWrap. He covers and assigns breaking news as it relates to entertainment, media and politics. With 10 years of experience covering film, television and theatre professionally, Benjamin was most recently Managing Editor at Backstage, a company for which he held various roles across its performing arts and awards departments…

Comments