True Detective Season 2: Is Female Presence Still Important?

The biggest hot button issue to come out of the True Detective’s first season was the lack of strong female characters. Events were lead by two males, with females only being features on the side and mostly for relationship drama. This rubbed some people the wrong way. It didn’t necessarily rub creator/writer Nic Pizzolatto the wrong way, but the complaints certainly did. He begrudgingly admitted over the summer that it affected his writing for season two.

We’re slowly marching towards season two right now with three male leads in tow. The question of the mysterious female lead has yet to be answered. One of the original rumors for season two was that it would involve two leads, one male and one female. An equal set-up, and plenty of room to develop a strong female lead. That’s no longer case, and the controversy over the lack of strong female characters has since died down.

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But it will return. Many, if not all eyes, on True Detective’s second season will be searching for this particular piece to the puzzle come premiere time. Whenever that may be. It will return because it’s an important issue. The detective genre, and to a greater extent the noir style in general, has largely been populated by male characters. True Detective has a chance to change this, and it should take it.

There is something to be said for arguing that Pizzolatto writes it the way he sees it and that’s that. No need to dig any deeper. Disregarding any argument about sexism and fair screen time, it just seem like a missed opportunity so far. There is room for a strong female force in True Detective, and the show can benefit from such.

But for now we’ll continue to patiently wait for that last casting confirmation.