True Detective, the critically acclaimed anthology crime series, has left audiences on the edge of their seats with its intricate plots, complex characters, and atmospheric storytelling. As fans eagerly anticipate a potential fourth season, rumors and speculations have emerged about the source of inspiration for the upcoming installment.
The question on everyone's mind is: Is True Detective Season 4 based on a true story?
Is True Detective Season 4 based on a true story?
No, True Detective season 4 is not based on a true story. It is completely made up and not based on real events. The fourth set of episodes of the HBO show, however, draws a lot from a real tragedy: the Dyatlov Pass crash.
Nine Soviet hikers died in the Dyatlov Pass incident in 1959. It was a strange event that has never been fully explained.
Some people in the group died from horrible injuries, like missing mouths and eyes, while others died of being too cold. They ran out of their tent in a hurry, so no one was found wearing the right clothes for the cold weather.
Everything that's been said sounds like it could be from the first three episodes of True Detective Season 4. Several people who work at the Tsalal Research Station die when they run out into the Alaskan wastes naked.
They get strange cuts along the way that are similar to the ones that happened at Dyatlov Pass. Even a lost tongue shows up at the station, though it has nothing to do with the main crime.
The only thing that director Issa López added was the “Corpsicle,” which is a horrible pile of frozen bodies. The poor souls who died in the Dyatlov Pass accident left behind eight separate bodies that were not fused.
The event at Dyatlov Pass isn't the only real-life event that inspired True Detective Season 4. López and her team also use parts of the (somewhat made-up) story of Mary Celeste. If you don't know much about maritime secrets, the Mary Celeste was a merchant ship whose crew seemed to disappear, just like the Tsalal workers do in the first episode of Season 4.
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The main things that True Detective: Night Country is influenced by are other works of pop culture. This includes Alien by Ridley Scott, The Shining by Stanley Kubrick, and The Thing by John Carpenter. López talked about all of these movies in a recent chat with the A.V. Club.
There are a lot of nods to the first season of True Detective in the fourth season as well. The first season was partly inspired by the 1895 collection of short stories called The King in Yellow.