Over the decade-spanning four seasons of “True Detective,” a rotating cast of stars and creators have investigated crimes that reflect truths about the real world. In the latest chapter of the HBO series, starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis, creator, director and series newcomer Issa López (“Tigers Are Not Afraid”) holds up a mirror to the ongoing epidemic of unanswered violence targeting Indigenous women. Set amid the frozen landscape of remote Alaska, “True Detective: Night Country” is a disturbing look at long-ignored trauma and a prescient reminder that, as Reis said, “Indigenous stories are not just in the past.”
In her very brief time in front of the camera, Reis — a two-spirit, Seaconke Wampanoag and Cape Verdean actor, advocate and world champion boxer — has made a name for herself in projects that grapple with the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. In her first feature, 2022’s “Catch the Fair One,” which she co-wrote with director Josef Kubota Wladyka, she played a boxer with a background similar to her own, who will stop at nothing to save her sister from a sex-trafficking ring. In the newest chapter of “True Detective,” which premieres Sunday on HBO and Max, she stars as an Iñupiaq state trooper who is haunted by the unsolved murder of a local Native woman.
“It’s never been about me; it’s always been about the bigger picture, just doing what we’ve always done as Indigenous people,” Reis told NBC News of choosing projects that give a voice to Indigenous issues and the importance of on-screen representation. “We get taught to have a voice for those who can’t speak, dance for those who can’t dance, fight for those who can’t fight.”
Drawing a parallel between the worlds of professional fighting and acting, she added, “With boxing, it’s kind of, like, ‘You get this opportunity, you have to be quiet. You just put your head down and work.’ That’s not where I come from. I’m a Wampanoag, Cape Verdean woman: We’re loud when we need to be.”
Appropriately enough, Reis’ “True Detective” character, Evangeline Navarro, also refuses to be silenced. Season four opens with a teaser of the mysterious occurrence that will keep Navarro and police chief Liz Danvers (Foster) busy throughout the six-episode run: A group of scientists running a shadowy lab on the outskirts of Ennis, a small oil-producing town north of the Arctic Circle, vanish under the shield of polar night. One of the only clues to what led to their disappearance is the severed tongue of an Iñupiaq woman, which fuels Navarro’s desire to reinvestigate the cold case murder.
But the research team’s whereabouts, which turn out to be particularly ghoulish, aren’t the only mystery to unravel, with all of the Ennis residents keeping confidences of their own. From Navarro’s haunted sister (Aka Niviâna) to the town’s father-son police duo (John Hawkes and Finn Bennett), it seems everyone in the small town is plagued by some unspoken, past trauma. Though, none of their secrets turn out to be as unsettling as the ones contained by the wind-swept, frozen lakes and snowy crags surrounding the village, where mysterious occurrences are commonplace.
The stark, haunting landscape serves as the basis for season four’s fantastical side, something that every “True Detective” chapter has had in varying degrees. Until now, the most effective use of the supernatural was in the debut season, which starred Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey and toyed with the occult. But “Night Country,” which was originally intended to be an entirely new murder series, is much more meta, suggesting that nature itself has a dark influence over Ennis’ human and animal inhabitants.
To bring the world of “Night Country” to life, the series filmed in various locations in Iceland, which proved to be unexpectedly challenging for Reis, a New England native, who said of season four: “Anything that looks cold was freezing.” But she wasn’t the only one whose teeth were chattering between takes. Even Foster, who’s certainly no stranger to a demanding set, reportedly said it was the most difficult shoot she’d ever done.
“I remember, one morning, we were sitting in the makeup trailer, and she’s, like, ‘Oh, God, this is the longest and toughest shoot I’ve ever been on!’ I’m, like, Jesus, what did I get myself into?” Reis said.
“You can’t get used to the wind in Iceland, but you can look up and see the northern lights and, you know, that’s great,” she continued with a laugh. “I’ve been stuck in worse places.”
In addition to the beauty tempering the harshness of the cold, the convivial environment on set kept Reis warm during the seven months she spent on location, filming and preparing for the 120-day shoot. She said the producers, crew and cast — many of whom were Alaska and Greenland Natives who traveled to Iceland to film on the icy terrain — formed a makeshift family that ultimately helped bring authenticity to her character. That was furthered by the support of her seasoned co-star.
“It was just a pleasure to be able to have this, this early on in my career,” Reis said of working with Foster. “Seeing what she brought to the table as Danvers helped me with developing Navarro, with [the character] revealing herself more to me.”
When it comes to acting, she also learned from Foster not to “take things so seriously,” Reis revealed.
“Unlike boxing, we can do this again, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll find what works,” Reis added.
Foster’s stoic and supportive approach to filming, as Reis described it, doesn’t come as much of a surprise when you consider her credentials. The 61-year-old star is about as experienced on set as it gets, with more than five decades of screen acting under her belt. And she’s been on somewhat of a comeback tour of late between the release of the Netflix biopic “Nyad,” in which she plays opposite Annette Bening, and the already acclaimed fourth season of “True Detective.”
In the new series, Foster draws on her past roles, including the hard-exterior, soft-interior antihero of 1997’s “Contact,” while giving her sometimes under-explained character a unique and much-needed edge. Opposite Reis’ Navarro — another woman with a difficult past, a penchant for self-destruction and a habit of seeking solace in meaningless sex — the police chief becomes even more convincing, thanks to the newcomer’s ability to stand toe-to-toe with her veteran scene partner, despite her lack of experience.
Like with her first project, Reis didn’t have to audition for “True Detective”; she got scouted for the role of Navarro after impressing the show’s casting director in “Catch the Fair One.” But once she came on board, she was once again in the position of learning on the job, having no formal training to speak of and no context for how to approach a series. But she was determined to rise to the occasion and had, if nothing else, plenty of life experience and time in the ring to fall back on.
“I’ve always been put in these situations where I’ve had to figure it out. Like, sink or swim girl — that’s just been my life,” said Reis, who’s spoken candidly about her history of abuse and the other obstacles she’s had to overcome to reach the spotlight.
“When I get the goal clearly, I’m going to do everything in my power to get it right. I just think that comes from, No. 1, my warrior mentality and, No. 2, the athletic background — repetition, repetition, repetition,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how many times you practice, though. You have to be present in the moment. You have to be able to dance with your partner. You have to be able to adjust and be quick on your feet.”
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