True Detective was renewed for season 5 soon after the HBO show’s fourth installment ended its run. As reports suggest, the hit detective series’ upcoming chapter has been in the works for quite some time. However, no official announcements regarding its cast or story have been made yet. Owing to this, it is hard not to believe that True Detective season 5 is not releasing anytime soon.
While it is hard not to look forward to the HBO crime thriller‘s return, viewers waiting for its release have the perfect opportunity to watch another great addition to the genre. Netflix has released a new 9-part crime thriller that shares many beats with True Detective and shows the potential to become one of the better additions to the genre.
Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole On Netflix Is The Perfect Show For True Detective Fans
True Detective peaked with its first installment. While some of its follow-up seasons have been great additions to the crime thriller genre, they come nowhere close to being as perfect and memorable as season 1. Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole on Netflix is not as brilliant as True Detective season 1, but it does seem to share many parallels with it.
For instance, the two main characters of the new Netflix thriller, which is based on Jo Nesbø’s Harry Hole book series, are competent detectives who find themselves at odds with one another. Like Rust and Marty from True Detective, Detective Hole‘s Harry Hole and Tom Waaler also do not shy away from embracing their darker traits to serve justice to wrongdoers. They are both more like anti-heroes.
Similar to True Detective season 1, Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole also introduces supernatural underpinnings without going overboard with fantastical elements. Like Rust Cohle, its main character almost seems to possess a supernatural connection to the criminal case he sets out to solve.
There is also a sequence in Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole where, much like Rust, the titular detective goes on a psychedelic trip to get to the bottom of the case he is solving. Despite these similarities, though, Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole etches its own distinct identity in the genre by making its main characters almost irredeemable.
Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole Is Even More Unforgiving To Its Main Characters Than True Detective
Rust and Marty find a semblance of resolution towards the end of True Detective season 1. Despite adopting a highly nihilistic worldview almost throughout the show, Rust Cohle, too, eventually starts to see the light. Unfortunately, unlike Rust and Marty, Harry and Tom in Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole struggle to redeem themselves from their past mistakes.
Their addictions and demons stay with them even towards the end despite their consistent efforts to bury them. Tom Waaler, in fact, is portrayed more as a villain in the series. Unlike Marty and Rust, he drifts too far towards the dark side and even turns completely against Harry Hole.
Harry Hole’s story gets a full-circle closure in the ending moments of Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole. However, he ends up losing a lot more than he gains. With this, Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole seems way more unforgiving towards its characters than True Detective.
If Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole Gets Renewed, It Will Not Be An Anthology
While Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole seems similar to True Detective in more ways than one, it will not adopt the same anthology approach as the HBO crime thriller. The Netflix series is based on a book series that already has over 10 installments. This gives it enough source material for several new followups.
Although Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole has not been renewed for another season yet, it seems to have a good chance of returning. If it does return, it will continue season 1’s story, unlike True Detective season 2. True Detective season 5, on the other hand, will stick to the series’ anthology approach and focus on a new set of characters solving a new chain of crimes.