True Detective: Is Night Country a Direct Sequel to Season 1?

From the very first trailer of True Detective: Night Country, it was clear to fans that this new installment of the crime series would share some DNA with Season 1. The spooky supernatural elements and presence of the ever-chilling spiral illustration had everyone thinking about Rust Cohle and Marty Hart's decades-spanning Louisiana mystery. That said, Night Country is an entirely new story, set in Alaska with a completely new group of characters. Is it really connected to Season 1, or are we all just chasing Easter eggs a little too far?

Two episodes of True Detective: Night Country have now aired, and the connections to True Detective Season 1 keep coming. The references seem to go beyond simple nods or homages and they have fans everywhere wondering if Night Country is actually a straight-up sequel to the original installment. WARNING: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for True Detective: Night Country! Continue reading at your own risk...

The Spiral

Let's get the obvious one out of the way first. The spiral drawing that marked the cult at the center of True Detective Season 1 is already a focal point of Night Country. The mark was drawn on the head of a dead researcher and tattooed on the back of Annie K, a local woman who was found dead six years prior. Another researcher, Clark, was revealed to be in some sort of relationship with Annie, and got the same mark tattooed on his chest after her death. 

There are more indirect references to the spiral as well, like when Danvers spreads the photos of the researchers around and they make a spiral on the floor beneath her.

On its own, the spiral can just be chalked up to a piece of creepy occult art that makes reference to the overarching True Detective motto, "Time is a flat circle." It's representative not just of the recurring evil in the world, but how our history tends to repeat itself again and again. 

When paired with another big Season 1 connection, however, the spiral in Night Country becomes even more of a head-scratcher.

The Tuttles

The appearance of the spiral seems to coincide with the presence of the evil Tuttle family. In Season 1, the Tuttles are the family behind the cult that Rust and Marty were trying to stop. One of their followers, Errol Childress, was the killer at the center of the mystery.

The Tuttle family had a lot of power and money, with one of their members (Edwin) involved in politics. The one-time Governor of Louisiana went on to become a US Senator. The family has deep roots and deeper pockets, which leads us to Night Country.

Peter mentions in Sunday's new episode that the TSALAL research lab, where the scientists went missing, was being funded by Tuttle United. Even if that's just an Easter egg, it's definitely not a coincidence. The lab was reportedly researching an ancient microorganism that could help cure cancer and illness. Some referred to the venture as the search for the "origin of life." Pouring endless amounts of money into that kind of venture has "cult" written all over it.

Travis Cohle

There was a theory floating around after the first episode of Night Country that Travis, the ghost who led Rose to the bodies of the researchers, was actually the father of Season 1's lead character, Rust Cohle. After all, Rust did claim at one point that his father went to Alaska and was dying of cancer. Not to mention the two men share a resemblance.

Night Country Episode 2 all but confirmed that connection. Rose revealed to Navarro that Travis was dying of leukemia before he walked out into the ice to die years prior. She also called him by his full name: Travis Cohle (spelling confirmed by HBO's subtitles). 

Everything we know about Rust's dad lines up with the mysterious Travis character in Night Country, further bringing the DNA from Season 1 into the new installment. It's unlikely Matthew McConaughey shows up or anything, but there are definitely some deep connections to Rust's story. 

How connected do you think True Detective Season 1 and Night Country really are? Let us know in the comments!