After many months of restricted to zero updates concerning the upcoming fifth season of True Detective, which was ordered up again in February 2024, the HBO hit reportedly landed Nicolas Cage to go up regardless of the latest homicide thriller might be below showrunner Issa López. Followers like myself are nonetheless holding out hope for Matthew McConaughey to return as TV’s most eloquent redneck, Rust Cohle, however I assume we’ll simply need to make do with the Season 1 star providing his personal private seal of approval for that casting.
Talking with Selection about one among his first live-action tasks since 2019’s The Gents — The Final Bus hits the 2025 film schedule for a restricted run on Sept. 19 — McConaughey was requested to weigh in on Cage being reported because the thriller anthology’s latest titular investigator, and it’d be laborious to learn into his response as something however a heat signal of approval. When requested about it, the Interstellar vet lit up whereas verifying the casting was legit, saying:
I heard that, is that true? . . . Nicely alright, Nicolas. That seems like a tasty mixture.
It is the way in which Matthew McConaughey takes the knowledge in after which says, “Alright, Nicolas,” whereas elevating his eyebrows and smiling. I can not think about there being a greater stamp of approval for anybody doubtlessly stepping right into a True Detective lead function. Like, if something I did brought on the actor to it similar to that, I might really feel pumped sufficient to assume I might do no improper. It does assist that my identify can also be Nicholas.
Whereas only some actors on the market would have salient recommendation about what a season of True Detective may be like, McConaughey had no massive insights to share for Cage, and as a substitute voiced his confidence that the opposite actor would crush it, amusingly utilizing his first identify thrice in the identical sentence.
I don’t [have advice]. I do know Nicolas effectively sufficient that I do know Nicolas goes to do his model of Nicolas, and like I mentioned, that is a tasty mixture. So excellent news.
Think about if Matthew McConaughey would mess up one time and slightly than saying, “Alright, alright, alright,” as a substitute mentioned, “Nicolas, Nicolas, Nicolas.” Nicely, that most likely would not have had as a lot of an influence on meme tradition, and followers would possibly query why he’d be utilizing somebody’s first identify as a constructive descriptor.
Nonetheless, I can not argue with that, particularly with it coming a yr after Cage freaked audiences out in OzPerkins’ freaky horror Longlegs, which itself felt considerably like a truncated season of True Detective. The actor is thought for delivering unhinged performances, and I can solely hope that working with Issa López on Season 5 conjures up him to deliver one other knock-out efficiency.
That is assuming this venture can come collectively in a well timed sufficient method. Cage at the moment has a John Madden biopic on the way in which, and he is additionally portraying the Spider-Verse character Spider-Noir for a standalone TV present. To not point out co-starring within the David Mamet-scripted drama The Prince and taking part in Jesus’ father in Lotfy Nathan’s upcoming drama The Carpenter’s Son.
Matthew McConaughey is ready to reteam with each Dazed and Confused‘s Cole Hauser and True Detective‘s creator Nic Pizzolatto for a brand new Netflix film, and whereas that venture will not have any direct connections to the most recent season of the HBO sequence, I am by no means going to surrender hope for Rust Cohle to pop again into our lives to share one other unforgettable statement about time.