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Issa Lopez, the Mexican force behind the new season of the critically acclaimed TV series ‘True Detective’
The showrunner spoke to HOLA! about her artistry and the work behind creating the new season of the iconic HBO show
The long-awaited installment of the anthology and critically acclaimed crime drama ‘True Detective’ is back on HBO. ‘True Detective: Night Country’ premieres on January 14 with Mexican powerhouse writer, director, showrunner, and executive producer Issa Lopez at the helm.
‘True Detective: Night Country’ stars Jodie Foster, in her first TV role since 1975, alongside boxer and actress Kali Reis. The series follows two police officers who take on a supernatural case in the remote town of Ennis, Alaska.
Early reviews of the series have hailed ‘Night Country’ as the best season yet, with it scoring 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. Lopez wrote and directed the bulk of this season’s episodes, providing a fresh take on the ‘True Detective’ universe. Her vision, alongside stunning performances from her cast, and a perfectly atmospheric seting, make for a captivating experience, one imbued with femininity and magical realism.
Lopez’s rich background spans multiple countries and languages. Born and raised in Mexico, Lopez earned a degree in film and then began working in TV. She kicked off her career by writing in various Televisa telenovelas that went on to become staples of the early aughts, like ‘Laberintos de Pasion’ and the teen drama ‘Primer Amor... A Mil Por Hora.’ She also wrote films, including ‘Ladies Night,’ a romantic comedy that was one of the biggest box office hits in Mexico in 2003. Other writing credits include ‘Niñas mal,’ and ‘Effectos secundarios,’ which features a performance from Oscar nominee Marina de Tavira.
Lopez’s body of work showcases her chameleonic ability to shift mediums and genres. In 2017, she wrote and directed ‘Tigers Are Not Afraid,’ a career-changing project. The film was a critical hit, winning multiple awards in Mexico, Canada, and the U.S., and earning her recognition and praise from her peers in the industry. It mixes elements of horror and fantasy within the context of the Mexican Drug War, telling the stories of the children most afflicted by these events.
Guillermo del Toro, Neil Gaiman, and Stephen King, icons of horror and storytelling, were vocal about their love for ‘Tigers Are Not Afraid,’ praising it and recommending it to their followers. Del Toro acknowledged Lopez and the film during his Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony, calling it one of the best horror films of the decade. Lopez thanked him for his generosity, to which he asked only that she do the same for someone else in the future. He’ll be producing one of her upcoming projects.
“It’s a glory that the new voice of horror in Mexico is Issa Lopez,” raved del Toro on X. “Horror with sensibility and the right gaze is always moving.” - Guillermo del Toro -
Jodie Foster had nothing but praise for Lopez, lovingly discussing her experience while making ‘True Detective’ together. “She is a magnificent writer, a great director, a great producer, and a terrific dancer,” she said at the Los Angeles premiere of the show. “And so, not only did she have all the answers that I needed, but I felt really comfortable with her, and I knew that she was the powerful person that could really lead this big epic show. She’s also a lot of fun and very blunt and truthful, and I knew that we’d get along.”
“She is one of my favorite directors in the fifty-eight years that I have been in this industry,” - Jodie Foster -
In an exclusive interview with HOLA! USA, Lopez discussed why ‘True Detective: Night Country’ was such an exciting opportunity. She opened up about her writing process, providing insight into the extensive research she completed in order to plot a mystery that takes place in one of the most alien and remote places on Earth. ‘True Detective: Night Country’ is a landmark in her career and an exciting moment for fans of quality television. It marks the return of an iconic show at its peak, this time led by a visionary Latina making stories on her own terms.
We are just days away from the world watching your masterpiece. How are you feeling?
So relieved (smiles). Exhausted, but so happy that the reason we made all this, which is people coming together and watching it, is about to happen. I’m dying to see what they think.
How did you first get involved with the series?
I was toying with the idea of a murder mystery because I loved them and had a couple of ideas about how to approach it on the shelf. And then I got a call from HBO asking what I would do with ‘True Detective,’ and I was like, “Well, how about the Arctic? How about Alaska? How about an Arctic research station that is suddenly abandoned by its crew that vanishes into thin air? And what about female characters?” And they said, let’s go.
“Working with Jodie Foster was, you know, one of the most joyous experiences of my life. And I’m completely spoiled after that because I don’t wanna make anything that she’s not in.” - Issa Lopez
I found it so interesting that it’s set in Alaska, providing this stunning, bold and scary backdrop. As a Mexican woman, did you have to do any research to learn more about the setting and the culture of Alaska?
All the research in the world (laughs). You know, imagine as a Mexican woman, I had never been to Alaska and certainly not that part of Alaska. I had been in the Arctic because I had been briefly in Iceland as a tourist, but that was it for me. And I hate the cold, actually, so it was a very strange decision. It made all the sense to answer to the sweltering of the first season of “True Detective” with the darkness of this one. You know, it feels like a dark mirror of what the first season did. Fearlessly, I decided to learn as much as I could. I went first into documentation, research, and looking up (Alaska) online as the best I could. And I got a team to help me go deeper, but then that’s not going to inform dialogue or so many other elements of the story.
We were in the middle of the pandemic when I was writing the first episodes, and I couldn’t go to Alaska. I was desperate to just move and write it there. What I did was, firstly, to submerge myself in endless hours of social media. People in the towns in Alaska get super bored, especially in the winter, and they go around recording themselves, making breakfast, going to the supermarket, doing the laundry, going to school, etc. This gave me the chance to submerge myself in the daily life of these people and how their towns worked. It was amazing to have that tool. And number two, I wrote the scripts listening to the radio stations of these towns and Billie Eilish on the other side because that’s what I was listening to during the lockdown. That’s what created the atmosphere of the show.
Eventually, lockdown allowed me to jump on a plane and go to Alaska and visit these towns that I had become obsessed with, and see the people, and eat their food, and ride with them on snowmobiles over the frozen ocean, and visit the graveyards, and go to church with them, and have long conversations to truly understand so many other things that I couldn’t find online that you can’t learn in a library or with social media.
It was a long process. Very importantly, at the moment that I had a first pass of the scripts we brought on board Inupiaq producers, who are storytellers themselves, to go over every page of the scripts and to help us truly represent the sensibility of the area, their sense of humor, the way they cook, etc.
“What I can bring that is new is to talk about female insecurities and fears, and the generational pain that we carry. It’s about how we face our sexuality, and understand justice, loss and loneliness, and the existence of God.” - Issa Lopez -
TRUE DETECTIVE SEASON 4 RED CARPET
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Of course. Kind of unrelated, but you are the first female director and writer to tackle True Detective, one of the most macho shows, for better or worse. What was that experience like?
It was absolutely exciting. The first season, which is the one I like the most, was such a deep dive into the male mind, right? Into what fuels it and moves it and its obsessions, fears, insecurities, desires and fantasies. There’s so much fantasy in that show, I loved it.
That first season dropped before the world changed. This was before #MeToo, before Trump, before the pandemic, before George Floyd. It was a very different world. So, I made this season as an answer to that show on this side of those changes. After three seasons of understanding the male experience, it wasn’t about ‘Oh, let me make it female.’ It’s about what was done so well. What I can bring that is new is to talk about female insecurities and fears, and the generational pain that we carry. It’s about how we face our sexuality, and understand justice, loss and loneliness, and the existence of God.
We’re seeing a touch of the supernatural in this season. Do you have a personal anecdote that you can share with us when it comes to the supernatural?
I do believe that as a Mexican, we walk with death. You know, when Jodie came into the the project, she said, ‘I see that death is very important to you.’ And I said, ‘Yes, it’s who we are as Mexicans.’ What is the most salient aspect of our culture? I think that if you put a little mezcal in front of a Mexican, you will be inundated with stories about ghosts. So put a mezcal and we’ll have a whole night of those stories. I love it.
Jodie Foster and Kali Reis are stunning, and they make such an interesting but odd pairing. Can you tell me a little bit about how they got involved?
Yeah. I went from the beginning of the show, from its very conception, I wanted Jodie Foster to play that part. I’ve always been a fan. I feel deeply that we don’t see enough of her. And she’s never done TV. What Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson brought to that first season was that movie stars were suddenly making television. So many incredible cinema actors are making TV now, which has become more prestigious and at times have better stories than cinema, but not Jodie. I felt that her inclusion would make people stop and watch our show. I think I’m seeing the effects of that. On top of that, I just wanted to work with her. She’s one of my heroes and I know the piece of actor that she is. Well, I thought I knew, and then I worked with her on the series and she blew my mind with the places she could go and the things she could do with the character. It was a no-brainer.
And then you have Kali Reis. I needed a warrior, an Amazon with a soul, with a heart that truly was there for her people, and that felt deeply and that could get emotional and at the same time be dangerous. Who could portray that and who was Latina and Native at the same time? I had this image of Navarro in my mind and my casting director, when we talked about this, she was like, look at this. And she showed me one picture of Kali Reis who had made a movie called ‘Catch the Fair One.’ I was mesmerized, because I was looking at my character. I saw the movie and she’s incredible in it. She also had that levity and that humor that Navarro required. I came to Los Angeles because she was nominated for Best Actress at the Spirit Awards, and I had a chance to work with her and make some tapes and she killed it. And she got the part.
WATCH ISSA LOPEZ’ INTERVIEW - ‘TRUE DETECTIVE SEASON 4’
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Lastly, if you could describe the season while focusing on the feeling of it instead of the plot, how would you describe it?
It’s a journey. The mystery of the series is solved but in the end, it’s not about that. That’s not what stays with you. What stayed with me from the first season of ‘True Detective’ was that eerie and sinister feeling. It was also those two characters that were perfectly portrayed by these actors and that we revisit again and again. So while there is a mystery case in this season, and I was very careful while constructing it, I think what will stay with the viewer is the emotional journey that these women go through. Because to solve the outer mystery, these women have to figure out the mystery they carry. And that’s the journey we’ll see.
