Where was True Detective season 4 filmed?
And no, it’s not in Alaska…
If season 4 of True Detective is also successful, it is largely thanks to its frozen setting: Alaska, where the polar night conceals terrible secrets, is almost the central character of Night Country. And yet, the production did not put its cameras there!
No, season 4 of True Detective was not filmed in Alaska. Don’t worry, it wasn’t filmed in a studio either, with a slew of CGI to pretend. No, it was in Iceland that the director Issa Lopez featured the duo led by Jodie Foster.
His comrade Kali Reiswho plays Evangeline Navarro, confirms: “Filming in Iceland was pretty crazy. It’s an extraordinary place. I almost want to go live there!”, she says to Première. “Afterwards, it was really cold. Very cold. But hey, I grew up in New England, in the northeast of America, so I’m used to these brutal temperatures.”
Kali Reis then reveals to us that the production has “totally brings Alaska to Iceland!” It specifies that for the purposes of True Detective 4which talks a lot about the Native Americans of this arctic region of America, “we brought lots of Natives from Alaska or Greenland to Iceland“. Because Kali Reisherself of Indigenous origin, descendant of the Seaconke Wampanoag tribe, assures that it was important to preserve a certain authenticity: “Not all Native Americans are the same. We share values, but we do not have the same culture, the same language, the same traditions. So I was very careful to represent Alaska Native culture. I asked for permission. I asked questions. I have been interested in.“
Beyond the culture of the “Natives” of the region, Alaska offers tremendous symbolism for the history of True Detective 4 : “In a figurative sense, these characters are frozen inside“, explain to us Issa Lopez.” They hide things inside themselves, almost under the ice in a way. Suffering, mourning etc. They bring their darkness with them everywhere and this should be reflected in the surrounding settings. So I thought of the Arctic! The first seasons took a small corner of America as their setting. Louisiana is almost a character in season 1, California in season 2 and the Ozarks in season 3. I wanted to take the opposite view of these warm regions and Alaska naturally imposed itself on me! “
True Detective, season 4, continues on Prime Video in France with the Warner Pass.