Is a True Detective shared universe really a great idea?
Why does this matter? Well, for starters, it is confirmation that HBO wants you to think that these stories matter more than just their individual parts. They want you thinking about imagery, about themes, and about the long-term impact cases can have on larger communities. With so many crime-based shows, you see the bad guy arrested and that’s all you hear about them. To a certain extent, that makes sense given that series like this do have to move on to other subjects. We understand that, though it is still a little bit sad to see a great mystery be forgotten.
Here, True Detective s showing that they have no intention of that being in the cases. Given that the season 1 and season 3 cases are not set in the same state, it makes sense for there to be not all that much in the way of crossover; yet, knowing that it’s a shared universe is enough to generate some more excitement.
(For those wondering, we do think that season 2 could conceivably be set in the same world without much effort, but since California is so far away from either Louisiana or the Ozarks, there’s no real reason to bring it up. Given the quality of that season, it’s probably for the best.)
So is this something that True Detective could opt to dig a little bit deeper into in the future? We do think that it’s possible — Nic Pizzolatto has an idea for season 4 already, even if it hasn’t been officially ordered by HBO at the moment. We’ve also heard, if it matters to anyone, that Matthew McConaughey has expressed an interest in coming back if the story is writing — we’re interested in a world in which some of the characters from multiple seasons end up meeting … provided there’s a compelling reason to do so. It’s so easy for this to end up being corny that it is, admittedly, a rather-risky endeavor. It’s more likely that future seasons could just include small references to one another than going in the direction of some full-on crossover.
Related News – Check out some more thoughts about the upcoming True Detective season 3 finale
What do you think about the idea of a True Detective shared universe, and what do you want to see when it comes to the future of the franchise? Be sure to share right now in the comments. (Photo: HBO.)