True Detective Reveals What Really Happened to Travis

The premiere of True Detective: Night Country left viewers with a ton of questions heading into its second episode. One of the biggest question marks from that first episode revolves around Travis, the dead man who appears to Rose and leads her to the bodies of the frozen researchers. The only real information the premiere offered about the character is that his name is Travis, he had died at some point prior to the start of the show, and he is somehow connected to Rose. The second episode of Night Country aired on Sunday night and offered some more concrete information about the mysterious man. WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for True Detective: Night Country! Continue reading at your own risk...

Early on in "Part 2" of True Detective: Night Country, Navarro talks with Rose about her visions of Travis. Rose confirms that Travis was her lover at one point in her life and that he had leukemia. She says that he wanted to go out on his terms and not let the cancer kill him, so after spending a final night with her he wondered out into the darkness. It was actually Navarro who discovered his body, which is how she came to know Rose (who calls their meeting a final gift from Travis).

Rose also explains that, after Travis' death, she started seeing the dead from time to time, and that she's not the only one in Ennis who has that ability. She says that ghosts either appear to you because they miss you, because they need to show you something important, or because they want to take you to the other side with them. It seems Travis returned for that second option, as his directions led Rose to the researchers.

The big mystery still surrounding Travis is his connection to whatever is going on with the dead researchers and the potentially supernatural issues around Ennis. He knew Rose could see him. He led her to the bodies knowing that she'd follow him and likely also call Navarro. Why his ghost is involved in this particular case is still unknown.

Is Travis Rust Cohle's Father?

There's a lot of evidence to support the theory that the ghost we've seen in True Detective: Night Country is actually the father of Rust Cohle, the character played by Matthew McConaughey in the show's first season. Rust mentioned at one point that his father moved to Alaska and was dying of cancer, but there was never complete confirmation that he was telling the truth in that moment.

What we do know, however, is that his father's name was Travis and that the Travis featured in Night Country was living in Alaska while dying of leukemia. In the new episode, Rose also refers to him by his full name: Travis Cohle. Turning on subtitles reveal that the last name is indeed spelled the same as Rust's.

There has been no confirmation that the two characters are connected, but all the evidence revealed so far points to the notion that Rust's dad is deeply connected to the Night Country story.