Where was True Detective Season 4 filmed?

True Detective Season 4 launched recently to rave reviews from critics and fans, but where was this visually astonishing series filmed?

Season 1 of True Detective was set in Louisiana. Season 2 played out in Southern California. And the location for Season 3 was the Ozarks.

For Season 4 – titled True Detective Night Country – the setting is very different, with the mystery unfolding during a period of permanent night, in the Alaskan town of Ennis, 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

But the series wasn’t shot there, with the HBO production traveling far further afield to bring this twisted tale to life.

Where was True Detective Season 4 filmed?

True Detective Season 4 was filmed in Iceland – specifically capital city Reykjavik, and two towns in the north: Akureyri and Dalvik.

According to Screen, the decision to shoot in Iceland was made when the country offered a 35% filming incentive, which helped with the show’s proposed $65 million budget. Though showrunner Issa López says that the country’s temperatures made for a tough shoot.

“I’m Mexican, so I’m really not fond of the cold,” López tells The AV Club. “We shot for 49 nights back-to-back, 120 days total. And those 49 nights, most of them out in the ice, they do something to you in a beautiful way. Some of the nights we were at minus 23 degrees Celsius, in conditions that I would never think of being in, but it just informs the story and feeds the feelings and the way you experience the series.

“A lot of people who have watched it are like, ‘I felt cold when I was watching it,’ and that happened because we were there, because the actors were cold, because the filmmakers were cold. And it needs to happen to really transmit that physical sensation through the screen.”

Jodie Foster on the magic of Iceland

Jodie Foster plays Elizabeth Danvers in True Detective Night Country, the detective investigating Season 4’s central mystery. And the acclaimed actress agrees that conditions were tough.

“There were huge challenges, as you can imagine,” Foster tells IcelandAir. “We were working at night, trying to light at nighttime and in the snow. But we kind of had the gods on our side. When we needed all the snow, we got the snow, and when we needed it to be calm, we got the calm.”

The actress adds that she also found magic in the Icelandic landscape: “When we were shooting outside… and then suddenly the northern lights start happening and we all just stop… and start looking at the northern lights. That was pretty great.”

True Detective Night Country is available on HBO and MAX in the US, and Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK. Click here to read our review of Season 4.