Who Is Issa López, the Mexican Director Behind 'True Detective' Season 4?

"True Detective" is back on Max, with early reviews are lauding the upcoming fourth season, the first one helmed by Mexican showrunner, director, and writer Issa López. She replaced former producer Nic Pizzolatto, who continues as an executive producer.

López, known for productions such as "Tigers Are Not Afraid" (2017), "Secondary Effects" (2006), and"Casi divas" (2008), is a significant contributor to the potential success of the new season. She served as the showrunner and wrote and directed every episode of "True Detective: Night Country," the latest installment of the saga.

Under López, these episodes revisit the supernatural essence of Season 1 from a female perspective and have exceeded reviews from prior seasons.

"'Night Country' feels like the radical reinvention that True Detective needs. It's dark, it's grimy, it's mysterious, it's full of dread and the unknown. It's the opposite of everything True Detective has been in the past, and yet it feels intensely of a piece with the show — and that's not just because of the season's frequent callbacks to the first season's spiral. What made True Detective a phenomenon in the first place was that sense of uncanny woven into a searing character drama; Night Country brings back that aspect with a season that's even stranger and beguiling. It's what the show needs to become a phenomenon once again." stated the specialized outlet Inverse in a review.

"True Detective: Night Country" not only marks Issa's debut in the show. In this season, the story is led by Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster, who, alongside Kali Reis, in the role of a newcomer, takes on the challenge of solving the mysterious disappearance of a group of men at a research station.

Foster is making a return to television after more than four decades, taking on her first leading role in a TV series.

"True Detective" and the Link with Latinos

The new installment of "True Detective," which will be released on January 14 (on HBO and the streaming platform Max) has a special connection with López's Latinidad. In an interview with Brazilian magazine Claudia, the director said: "It was the most Mexican thing I've ever done, and it's so Mexican in the weirdest way, and Latin Americans all over the world will feel it."

In the initial versions of the script, López portrayed Navarro as Latina. However, after delving into the region's background, López opted for the character to have Native ancestry, a New York Times' article mentioned.