Jodie Foster Finally Ends a 10-Year Disappointment with the True Detective Matthew McConaughey Started

With Jodie Foster's 2024 Emmy win for her role in True Detective season 4, she broke a 10-year streak of disappointment with the series. Jodie Foster is commonly considered one of the greatest and most talented actresses of all time, best known for her Oscar-winning role in The Silence of the Lambs. This made it even more exciting when she joined the True Detective: Night Country cast, continuing the HBO show's trend of bringing in prestige, high-quality talent to lead the anthology series.

In 2024's revamped True Detective, which saw a return to the series under new showrunner Issa Lopez after a five-year break in Season 3, Foster played Liz Danvers. Like most successful crime shows lead detectives, Danvers struggled to keep things under control in his personal life as he found himself diving deeper into a complicated murder case, leading to the dramatic True Detective: Night Country end. Jodie Foster won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for his interpretation of the character.

Jodie Foster is the first actress to win an Emmy for true detective

Matthew McConaughey, Surprisingly, Never Won an Emmy for True Detective

Despite Matthew McConaughey's iconic performance as Rust Cohle in True Detective Season 1, he didn't receive the Emmy in 2014. Neither Colin Farrell nor Mahershala Ali won for their seasons, and none of the supporting cast members took home an award, making Jodie Foster the first actor to win for the series. In total, the series had 22 nominations and five wins before its win in 2024. Foster's season also brought in more nominations in other categories.

Why It Took 10 Years for True Detective to Finally Win an Acting Emmy (Despite Season 1's Legacy)

True Detective's first season was pitted against some television titans at the Emmys

True Detective the first season alone was enough to cement the HBO series as one of the best TV shows of all time, with McConaughey's character is considered one of the best-written protagonists in television history. It may come as a shock that neither he nor Woody Harrelson took home an award that year, but it's due to the fact that they faced a stacked category. See the list of nominees and the winner below:

It seems more than likely that McConaughey would have won an Emmy that night if he had been nominated in the Miniseries category instead of Drama Series. The category was not labeled to include anthology series at the time, but Fargo was still included in it. In the Lead Actor in a Drama Series category no one was beating Bryan Cranston last season Breaking Badthen True Detective I never had a chance. After that, the show's second and third seasons never received enough praise for any serious Emmy consideration.

Another True Detective Emmy was ready for

True Detective was nominated for 12 primetime Emmys

True Detective was nominated for a dozen Primetime Emmys during its four seasons. Although Woody Harrelson, Matthew McConaughey, Mahershala Ali, and Jodi Foster all received acting nominations (with Foster being the only winner), they weren't the only ones. Although there were no supporting actors who received Emmy nominations in the show's early seasons, Both John Hawkes and Kali Reis are up for supporting roles in 2024 for season 4.

Where True Detective saw most of its nominations, however, come in behind-the-scenes categories. The direction and writing have stood out in the program. Cary Fukunaga and Nic Pizzolatto were nominated for directing and writing, respectively, albeit for different episodesin the first season. In the same way, Issá Lopez was appointed as writer and director for season 4.

The series was also nominated for several Primetime Creative Arts Emmys. While the Primetime Emmys focus on the more visible aspects of the show, focusing primarily on the actors involved in the projects, the Creative Arts Emmys focus on the people who work behind the scenes to make the show happen, who aren't directors and writers. The camera work and cast take center stage in this ceremony, which is not televised. True Detective was nominated for 28 Creative Arts Emmys, winning four of them.

This impressive list of nominations demonstrates how much talent and skill it takes to make a season of True Detective from the beginning.