Nicolas Cage in Talks for ‘True Detective’ Season 5 — Getting Him Closer to a TV Pivot

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Between Woody Harrelson, Matthew McConaughey, Jodie Foster, Colin Farrell, Mahershala Ali, and Rachel McAdams, “True Detective” has a knack for getting big movie stars onto the small screen, and the latest could be someone who has only recently dipped his toes into television: Nicolas Cage. In fact, the actor hinted way back in 2023 that he may only have a few movies left in him and would’ve wanted to “have left on a high note” before turning to TV.

Cage is in talks to star in the fifth season of “True Detective” for HBO, a source told IndieWire. This season is said to be set in the Jamaica Bay area of New York City, and showrunner and writer Issa Lopez, who took over for creator Nic Pizzolatto for the fourth season, “Night Country,” is back. Any other plot details are still under wraps.

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HBO had no comment.

The only other instance of Cage turning to television as the lead for a series still hasn’t come out yet. That would be “Spider-Noir,” the live-action, black and white series for Amazon that is a spinoff of Cage’s character in the animated “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” In it he plays a 1930s private investigator/superhero forced to grapple with his past life choices. The series is set to debut in 2026.

Not only was “Night Country” the most-watched season of “True Detective” in its four seasons, it also broke the losing streak for “True Detective” and won its lead Jodie Foster an Emmy and Golden Globe, the first time a lead for the series has won the top industry prizes. Cage would still be a Tony and a Grammy away from EGOT status if he managed the same, but we can dream.

Pizzolatto had teased that Season 1 stars McConaughey and Harrelson were interested in reprising their roles, with Pizzolatto saying he had another idea for their characters Cohle and Hart, but Pizzolatto last wrote for the series in Season 3.

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True to form, Cage has been plenty busy in both prestigious projects and lower-budget shlock, starring in last year’s “Longlegs,” “The Surfer,” and “Arcadian,” as well as this year’s “Gunslingers.” In addition to the “Spider-Noir” series set for next year, Cage is playing NFL legend John Madden in a biopic being directed by David O. Russell, he’s starring in a sequel to “Lord of War” from Andrew Niccol, he’ll appear in a horror film called “The Carpenter’s Son,” and he’s in post on “The Prince,” based on a David Mamet script.

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