True Detectivebecame a landmark HBO series, after show creator Nic Pizzolatto, familiar with the South Texas and Louisiana area thanks to his years in academia, built a world using source material of from his own novelGalvestonand inspiration from filmmakers like Roman Polanski. The marshes, oil refineries and whispy oak trees became the setting for Detectives Cohle and Hart to pursue an investigation into crimes deeply embedded in the fabric of a Southern community. In Louisiana’s coastal peninsulas, Pizzolatto sought to create characters that matched an area that the world had forgotten —a world where a conspiracy to hide occult practice could thrive.
Some of the biggest strengths of all 3 seasons ofTrue Detective, thus far, have been their deep cast of supporting characters, poaching cast members from previous HBO series as well as up-and-comers like Kelly Reilly, who matched Pizzolatto’s grave tone. While theshow is widely felt to have fallen off after Season 1(some would blame the absence of Season 1 director Cary Joji Fukunaga), Pizzolatto still showed a penchant for crafting supporting characters often more depthful than the leads, as his ambitious, macro-scope Season arcs required a large ensemble of character actors to fill out their ranks.
The following areTrue Detective’s most compelling supporting characters.
11Kelly Reilly as Jordan Semyon
Kelly Reillywas an aberration asJordan Semyonin Season 2 of the series, loyal to her husband Frank (Vince Vaughn) and desperate to conceive as they piece together their criminal pasts and Frank’s fortunes are won and lost. The character made great companion to Reilly’s work onYellowstone, with both her characters cutting a sharp wit that belies a tortured past. Jordan will stop at nothing to help Frank achieve their goals, a voice of reason when Frank must go back to his old life as a nightclub impresario after his lightrail deal goes South. The British actor’s gravitas onTrue Detectiveclearly made an impression on Taylor Sheridan, who promptly cast Reilly as Beth Dutton onYellowstone, making the actress a bona fide star as the Pandemic descended on America and the series became one of it’s greatest beneficiaries.
Related:Kelly Reilly Opens Up About Her Yellowstone Character Beth Dutton
10Scoot McNairy as Tom Purcell
Scoot McNairywas on a roll when he was cast in Season 3 ofTrue DetectiveasTom Purcell. The actor had standout roles in the seriesHalt and Catch FireandFargo, then gave a heart-wrenching performance as the father of two missing children, who will stop at nothing to put his life back together. Season 3 has a much mellower tone than the previous two, save for McNairy’s often-unhinged performance, balancing the calm demeanor of Detectives Wayne Hays (Mahershela Ali) and Roland West (Stephen Dorff). McNairy plays a relatable character, as he embodies the frenzy of any parent of missing children, giving Season 3 a humanity it otherwise lacks.
9David Morse as Elliot Bezzerides
The disjointed eight-episode Season Two of True Detective was stabilized, in part, by the guiding backstory of Ani Bezzerides (Rachel McAdams) and her fatherElliot, played byDavid Morse. Elliot runs a suspiciously cultic wellness center on the Malibu coast, and Ani questions his influence on her upbringing and his possible connection to a missing persons case involving a woman who used to work at his meditation center. The elder Bezzerides is guarded, often being opaque when questioned and referring more to auras and simulated realities than any actionable information. The tension between father and daughter is ratcheted up by her sister’s life as a sex worker, of which Elliot seems indifferent.
8Charles Halford as Reginald Ledoux
When Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) first lays eyes on the demonicReginald Ledoux(Charles Halford), the meth dealer is clad only in underwear and a gas mask as he walks from his meth lab, a sight of sheer terror that’s left as a cliffhanger at the end of episode 3. Halford’s terrifying,machete-wielding presence sets the stagefor Cohle and Hart’s (Woody Harrelson) siege of this swamp-hidden hellscape where Ledoux plies his trade. When Cohle finally apprehends him, Ledoux bears a cultic spiral tattoo that links him to the Archdiocese. Upon discovering what Ledoux has locked in a backyard trailer, Hart loses it and blows half of Ledoux’s head off, but not before the haunting character speaks of Carcosa.
7Alexandra D’Addario as Lisa Tragnetti
Alexandra D’Addariogives a standout performance asLisa Tragnetti, Hart’s mistress (or one of them), who wants to wedge between the Detective and his wife. Tragnetti is the more mature of the two, and when Hart obsessively busts into her apartment to beat up her new boyfriend, she exacts revenge by telling his wife about their affair. D’Addario brought a vigor and intelligence to the role that belied her arrestingly good looks, adding to the decadence that constantly baits Cohle and Hart, two addicts of a different kind. For her standout performance onTrue Detective, D’Addario was rewarded with a leading role onThe White Lotus, proving her acting talent extended beyond only supporting roles.
Related:The Best Alexandra D’Addario Movies and TV Series, Ranked
6Shea Wigham as Joel Theriot
Shea Wighamhas had several runs on HBO series, most notably his performance atJoel Theriot, a travelling minister whose congregation used to meet at a burned out church with a shrine to Carcosa. Theriot gives some stirring rhetoric in the tent of his traveling ministry, showing the devout side of the Southern delta that Rust so abhors. Theriot is master of his domain in 1995, during Cohle and Hart’s initialinvestigation of Louisiana’s bizarre ritualistic killings. By the time they reconvene to finish the job, a visit paid to Theriot reveals the once-holy man to be an out-and-out drunk eager to atone for his sins, but lacking the fear of God he used to strike into his congregation.
5Michelle Monaghan as Maggie Hart
Maggie Hartis the loyal wife of Detective Marty Hart, played byMichelle Monaghan, who initially opts to stick with her marriage to Marty after his infidelities. That decision comes back to haunt her, and her fascination with Marty’s partner Rust has always gotten a rise out of the oft-jealous Marty. When Maggie discovers some lewd sexting on Marty’s phone she uses Rust to get back at Marty, taking advantage of the off-the-wagon Detective’s own shortcomings. That leads to Marty and Rust’s greatest conflict, ending in a parking lot brawl where everyone seemingly loses.
4Michael Potts as Detective Gilbough
When Marty and Cohle are tracked down in semi-retirement, long after their partnership,Detective Gilbough(Michael Potts) and his partner question the duo separately, with Gilbough playing good cop during questioning. Gilbough is less suspicious of Rust’s potential to be the murderer than his partner, sharing important evidence of a new rash of ritualistic killings, sparking Marty’s re-interest in his old case. Gilbough is a thorough sleuth, but seems to share more with Rust based on their respective divorces, and Gilbough’s understanding of how life can sometimes move sideways for law enforcement.
3Detective Thomas Papania
Gilbough’s worse-half is DetectiveThomas Papania(Tory Kittles), a more shrewd Detective who thinks Rust being the source of most of the case’s important information implicates him in the killings. Papania is reticent to give Cohle any important information, and seems more interested in his open-and-shut theory about Cohle. They verbally jab in Cohle’s interviews, with Rust seemingly uninterested in Papania’s attempts to lead him to making his own case more solid.
2Glenn Fleshler as Errol Childress
Glenn Fleshlerchecks all the creepiness boxes in his role asErrol Childress, holding a groundskeeper job at a parish school that keeps him in proximity to his cult’s young victims. Childress uses some clever misdirection during his first meeting with Rust, mowing the lawn on school grounds when the Detective first questions him. Despite a child’s description of a ‘spaghetti-faced man", Rust doesn’t notice Childress’ facial scarring initially, but later happens upon the murderer’s home, discovering the hoarder house where Childress has an incestual relationship with his equally creepy sister.
When Rust discovers a bed frame with clear signs of torture, he chases Childress into a Civil War Era ruin, now a series of tunnels that Childress has made into his own Carcosa. The episode moves from mystery to horror, as Childress toys with Rust in his playground of child sacrifice, before the two go hand-to-hand in the season’s incredible finale.
