Is True Detective: Night Country based on a true story?

The series brings together police chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and state trooper Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) to make sense of the sudden disappearance of a group of scientists from an arctic research facility in Alaska.

The strange turn of events is thought to be connected to an earlier unsolved murder which continues to haunt Navarro – that being the brutal fate of Annie Kowtok, an Indigenous midwife and activist.

The startlingly high numbers of missing and murdered Indigenous women – most prominent in Canada and the United States – is, tragically, an all too real social issue that is the obvious launchpad for that particular storyline.

But the inexplicable group disappearance also has some basis in reality, despite Night Country being primarily a work of fiction. Here's what you need to know about the truth behind the drama.

Is True Detective: Night Country based on a true story?

True Detective: Night Country is not directly based on a single true story, but there are real events that inspired the plot of the gritty drama.

Specifically, showrunner Issa López told Vanity Fair in November 2023 that the Dyatlov Pass incident and the case of the Mary Celeste were two that stood out in her mind while developing the show.

Dyatlov Pass incident explained

The former case concerns nine Soviet hikers, who ventured into the Ural Mountains in February 1959. They were never seen alive again.

The story has captured the imagination of theorists for decades due to its grim details. Not only did the hikers cut a large hole in their tent and flee without their clothes in freezing conditions, but their bodies were found in a shocking state.

While six had died of hypothermia, which is to be expected given the conditions, three had suffered major physical trauma – ranging from the skull, face and chest.

A particularly gory aspect refers to what was taken from the hikers, specifically two sets of eyes, one pair of eyebrows and a tongue.

True Detective viewers will note that a gruesome Night Country murder also involves a missing tongue, while the season's premise hinges on a similarly dramatic disappearance from a remote, snowy locale.

Six decades on from the events taking place, Russia opened a fresh investigation into what had become known as the Dyatlov Pass incident – named after group leader Igor Dyatlov.

In 2020, it concluded that a slab avalanche had caused the macabre tragedy. But Night Country's López remains unconvinced.

"An avalanche doesn’t explain a lot of the details I think," she said. "Even if it did, I prefer the strange, incomplete answer.

"I think there is a fascination with puzzles that are still missing a couple of pieces, and that obsess us, and make us angry, and make us not stop thinking about them."

Mary Celeste explained

Another historical incident involving the simultaneous disappearance of an entire group of people befell the crew of Mary Celeste; a merchant ship discovered abandoned in December 1872.

The case perplexed authorities at the time as there were no signs whatsoever as to where the passengers may have gone, while the vessel's cargo remained intact, ruling out the idea of a grand theft or attack by pirates.

To this day, the mystery remains unsolved, with leading theories ranging from a mistaken order by the captain to abandon ship, perhaps caused by worrying rumbling sounds from industrial alcohol stored in the cargo hold.

Other explanations cite possible natural causes of alarm, such as a submarine earthquake or iceberg.

Notably, one life boat was missing from the Mary Celeste and the cord connecting it to the main ship had been cut, which suggests that the crew could have simply drifted from the vessel and become lost at sea.

Answers remain elusive around this particular case, with showrunner López telling Vanity Fair that the same is true of Night Country to an extent.

"Not all of the details, not all of the questions are clarified at the end," she teased.

True Detective: Night Country premieres on Sky Atlantic and NOW on Monday 15th January 2024. Find Sky deals here. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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