You might’ve forgotten about True Detective season 5, but it’s shooting soon and will be set in a far more familiar location

Despite getting mixed reviews from viewers, HBO’s True Detective: Night Country (aka season 4) was a huge success for Max and convinced most critics. Therefore, a season 5 was locked in shortly after its debut, with writer-showrunner Issa López set to return.

After months of radio silence as López and her team focused on writing and polishing the scripts, it appears that cameras will start recording sooner rather than later, and its main setting is returning to civilization and crowded locales. More specifically, True Detective season 5 (title TBD) will take us to Jamaica Bay, New York.

HBO’s Head of Drama Series and Film Francesca Orsi revealed the details to Deadline. “Issa has a lot to say, not unlike she did with Night Country. It’s a different milieu, but just as powerful,” she added.

Which big names could spearhead this new season to keep the tradition of surprising, star-studded casts going? We won’t have to wait much longer to find out, it seems, as casting is “in preliminary stages” and filming is expected to begin in the coming months. For now, HBO and Max are playing things safe and targeting a very distant 2027 release window. Should it arrive in the early months, that would make the wait between seasons three years long.

“I’m really excited about it. We have a small writers room going with Issa,” Orsi also confirmed. The names of the scribes working alongside López haven’t been revealed yet, but original series creator Nic Pizzolatto won’t be involved. He didn’t have a say in the Jodie Foster and Kali Reis-led season 4 either; in fact, he was quite critical of it.

Back in December 2024, López told the New York Post about some potential connections to Night Country, which in turn also connected back to the series’ first season, so expect more of that even if “new story, new characters, everything” is season 5’s core idea.