True Detective: Night Country - Is season 4 of the crime drama supernatural?

Fans want to know if True Detective:Night Country is supernatural as the second episode was released on Sunday night and the series suggests that something paranormal could be afoot...

True Detective: Night Country began last week and after last night's latest episode, fans want to know if the show has a supernatural element. Many took to social media to share their confusion - and excitement. "This new season of True Detective is a supernatural????? Sign me up!" said one fan on X formerly known as Twitter. "Wait so is True Detective a supernatural thriller??" said another.

Here's what fans of the series need to know...

Is True Detective: Night Country supernatural?

Although the first episode of True Detective: Night Country hinted that there was a supernatural element, things got even spookier in the second episode as mysterious symbols began appearing, the dead were able to communicate with the living, and the deaths of the scientists seemed to be pointing to something otherworldly. So what is going on in the series? Is True Detective: Night Country supernatural?

Yes. In short, there is a supernatural subplot in the fourth season of True Detective. The second episode highlights many of the superstitions and spiritual beliefs of the people who live in Ennis. Some people in the series, like Rose, can communicate with the dead, and it seems that ghosts have a way of piercing through the veil of the living and the dead in Ennis. Whether the cause of the scientist's death is supernatural remains to be seen, but it's clear that there's something paranormal happening to the people in Ennis, particularly during the long winter nights that stretch on for weeks.

Speaking about the influence of the supernatural in her show, writer and director Issa López told Inverse that the filming location of True Detective: Night Country was key to the supernatural themes in the show. "I said directly, I would bring back the width of the supernatural in this season," she said. "And I did this by setting it in a place where the veil between this world and other things gets thin."

Issa explained that she wanted to, "create an environment that is as iconic and as full of secrets and possible mysticism and almost sentient in a way as that Louisiana bayou." The director concluded, "The Arctic gave me all those answers."

The cast of the show has also addressed the supernatural themes of the show and Jodie Foster revealed in an interview with The Wrap that this is what drew her to the script.

"The script just gripped me and I saw such resonance and so many things that I wanted to talk about - grief and how the dead walk among us," Jodie said. "And then I met Issa - that did it pretty much - that meeting with Issa. I knew that I wanted to serve her vision and to help her get there. I would do anything for her. I think we just had that immediate connection."

Fans of the show were a little confused as the second and third seasons of True Detective didn't have a supernatural element. However, the series was perhaps more inspired by the first season of the show which touched on the supernatural, but didn't explore the themes in such detail.