True Detective Showrunner Issa Lopez Teases Season 5

True Detective: Night Country, the fourth season in the beloved crime series, arrived on HBO earlier this year and brought the title back to a level of prominence that has been missing since its very first installment 10 years ago. It should come as no surprise after seeing that critical and commercial success that, not only is the show returning for a fifth season, but Night Country showrunner Issa López will be back to once again lead the next installment. 

Every season of True Detective to this point has followed a new story in a new location, with Night Country taking place in the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska. Unlike other seasons, however, Night Country had a lot of direct ties and references to previous installments (mainly Season 1). So, with López back in the driver's seat, will Season 5 tied back to the story of Ennis in some way?

During a Deadline TV Contenders panel for the series, López was asked that exact question. She played about as coy as you'd expect. "It might, or not, be connected to Ennis," López said. "We will see."

Odds suggest that, while there may be connections, True Detective Season 5 will be in a new place with new characters, just as the other seasons before it. After all, there's a lot ambiguity surrounding the fate of one of Night Country's lead characters.

Navarro, the character played by Kali Reis, walked out into the night in the final minutes of the season, seemingly disappearing into the ether, but she appeared alongside Jodie Foster's Danvers in the very last shot. This has led to all sorts of theories about whether or not the character is still alive.

"I'm not saying that she's alive, and I'm certainly not saying that she's dead," López told Deadline in an interview about the finale. "I very carefully crafted this as an ink blot test for you to discover yourself as an audience member. I do love that Navarro states very early in the series that she has this impulse to just walk away and leave everything behind. On the other hand, the entire series is an exploration of the fact that she feels a calling to the beyond. 

"In the climax of the finale, and instead of fighting it and going in with pain and fear, she surrenders to it. And in doing it, she receives a piece of herself. So that call that she was afraid of is solved. The Aboriginal people in Australia go and walk about, find themselves and then come back, which I think is what Kali [Reis] embraced [for the character]. However, there is a chance that she is also going to be with the women before her visit to them. You can read it both ways and it's up to you to interpret which one fulfills your heart."