Warning! Contains spoilers for all four seasons of True Detective.

Summary

• True Detective's four seasons have standalone narratives, but there are several intersections in their timelines.
• While the 1980 timeline primarily unfolds season 3's events, the 1990 timeline accommodates key events from both seasons 1 and 3.
• The 2015 timeline is shared by both seasons 2 and 3.

Despite being set in distinct periods, having self-contained narratives, and featuring different characters, the four seasons of Hart and Cohle's investigation and the ebbs and flows in their relationship.

Although season 1 received widespread acclaim, True Detective season 2 trod its own path by adopting a fairly linear storyline. Unfortunately, it failed to recreate season 1's success. Season 3 went back to adopting a convoluted story structure, where time was "a flat circle," and several timelines unfolded at once. Although True Detective season 4 does not follow the same narrative pattern as seasons 1, 2, and 3, it borrows several themes and story elements introduced in season 1.

1980 - True Detective Season 3

Two Children From Arkansas Dissapear

The 1980 timeline in True Detective season 3 begins on November 7 with two kids, Will and Julie Purcell, from rural northwest Arkansas heading out of their home to play before disappearing. Wayne David Hays, from the Arkansas State Police's Major Crimes Division, begins investigating the case and ultimately finds Will's body after following a trail of straw dolls. After speaking with Will and Julie's classmate, Ronnie Boyle, Hays and his partner, Roland, learn the two disappeared kids had lied about going to their friend's place to play.

A Few Primary Suspects Emerge

A local living close to the crime scene tells the detectives that he saw a suspicious white woman and a black man in a brown car. A Vietnam veteran, Brett Woodard (touted as "the trash man"), also becomes a primary suspect when the locals beat him up for hanging around their children. A teenager named Freddy Burns also s the suspect list when the fingerprints on Will's bicycle are confirmed to be his.

Billy Lee Tuttle established the Wellspring Education Initiative sometime in the 1980s.

Brett Woodard Goes Down A Warpath

The white locals who previously attacked Brett chase him to his home, and Hays and Roland also receive reports of the same at the police headquarters. Woodward directs his attackers to his home and sets up tripwires in his compound before assembling guns near his windows. Hays manages to break into his home, but Brett makes him kill him.

1990 - True Detective Seasons 1 & 3

Julie's Prints Are Found At A Walgreens Store In Oklahoma

An unknown person gets convicted for Will's murder, but the case nearly gets overturned when Julie's fingerprints are discovered after a robbery in an Oklahoma-based Walgreens store. When Amelia, too, gets involved in the case and even writes a book about it, she visits the Walgreens store with Wayne. However, this later leads to some animosity between Wayne and Amelia because she continues working on the case even when Wayne stops working as a detective.

Wayne And Roland Team Up Again

Roland initially reflects on his relationship with Wayne and claims, “Once we stopped working together, we just stopped.” However, when the Julie case gets reopened, Roland reaches out to Wayne and asks him to forces with him. To mark the beginning of a whole new chapter of their investigation, they visit the Walgreens store and review the security footage. To Wayne's surprise, he spots Julie in the video.

Marie Fontenot Goes Missing

Marie Fontenot's mother reports her missing in 1990. Vermilion deputy Steve Geraci is the first to receive the complaint. However, her case soon gets buried when Vermilion's sheriff, Ted Childress, claims she left home to live with her father. To ensure the case file is closed, he also switches the initial report to "made in error."

Between 1990 and 1995, Reginald Ledoux was arrested for statutory rape of a minor but later acquitted, the Wellspring program was closed, Rianne Olivier’s body was found, and Eunice church was burnt down.

1995 - True Detective Season 1

Hart And Cohle Start Investigating Dora Lange's Murder

True Detective season 1's "past" timeline begins with Marty and Rust investigating the strange ritualistic murder of Dora Lange. Their investigation starts on January 3rd when they find her body tied to a tree in a praying position. They find her with a crown made using antlers, tree branches, and switchgrass, and her back also has a crooked spiral symbol.

Hart And Cohle Learn About Marie Fontenot

On January 4th, Marty and Rust trace Dora's footsteps after learning that she was a sex worker living outside St. Martinville. When they ask around in the area where she used to live, a man asks the detectives if they had found Marie Fontenot's body since she had gone missing a few years before the incident. This leads them to learn about Marie Fontenot's report, which was declared "made in error" by Ted Childress.

Hart And Cohle Learn The Truth Behind Marie's Disappearance

After learning that Marie's uncle was Danny Fontenot, a former LSU pitcher, the two detectives pay him a visit. Although Danny is unable to speak because of a stroke, he nods to answer their questions and confirms that Marie did not go to her father. This hints that Marie had, indeed, gone missing, and her case was closed prematurely.

Several Clues Point Towards The Existence Of The Yellow King Cult & Carcosa

"Carcosa" first comes up in True Detective in Dora Lange's diary, which also mentions "a king in yellow moving through the forest." Rust later uncovers the case of Rianne Olivier, which not only leads him to Reginald Ledoux but also briefly brings him face-to-face with Errol Childress when he and Marty visit the grounds of the abandoned Light of the Way school. Charlie Range reveals more about Carcosa and the Yellow King, claiming that Reggie knew of a place called Carcosa where the rich would sacrifice women and children and worship the Yellow King.

Rust And Marty Track Down Reggie & Close The Dora Lange Case

Before Reggie is shot dead, he says, "Time is a flat circle," which rings true when Rust and Cohle find themselves returning to the same case years later.

After learning that Reggie creates drugs for the biker gang, Iron Crusaders, Rust was previously undercover with, Rust goes back undercover to gain the trust of the of the gang. After Rust abducts a gang member, Ginger, who confirms he knows Reggie, he forces him to get him a meeting with Reggie's associate, Dewall Ledoux. Marty follows Ledoux to find Reggie's whereabouts and kills him after spotting a boy and a girl in his shipping container.

Before Reggie is shot dead, he says, "Time is a flat circle," which rings true when Rust and Cohle find themselves returning to the same case years later. Ledoux, too, dies after running into his own security system. When authorities discover the same LSD formulation at the crime scene that was previously found in Dora Lange's blood, they close her case, believing that her killers were Reggie and Dewall. Little do they realize that the case points towards a bigger conspiracy.

Rust Cohle had a relationship with a psychiatrist named Laurie between 1996 and 2002.

2002 - True Detective Season 1

Rust Learns Dora Lange's Killer Is Still Out There

Guy Leonard Francis informs Rust that Dora Lange's murderer is still alive. Rust initially attacks him after the shocking revelation and gets taken out of the room. However, before he can ask him more questions about Dora Lange, Francis dies by suicide after reportedly talking to his lawyer.

Rust Starts Investigating The Dora Lange Case Again

Rust begins his investigation by arranging a meeting with the girl whom he and Marty had rescued from Reggie's container. However, as soon as he mentions the man with facial scars, she starts screaming. Despite being warned to step back from the case, Rust continues the investigation and notices a pattern where many missing person cases were switched to "made in error." Although Rust gets close to learning how the disappearances connect to the Tuttles, things take an ugly turn before he can get to the bottom of the connections.

Rust Has An Affair With Marty's Wife

Rust has an affair with Marty's wife, Maggie, after she seduces him to destroy her own marriage. This leads to a fallout between Rust and Marty, and they even fight outside the police station. Rust had already been suspended for questioning Billy Lee Tuttle. After his fight with Marty, he reaches the end of his wits and resigns.

While Rust claimed to work in Alaska between 2002 and 2010, Marty quit the police force in 2006.

2010 - True Detective Season 1

Rust Begins Investigating The Tuttles

During his new investigation, Rust breaks into Billy Lee Tuttle's home and finds a safe that contains a video of Marie Fontenot's assault and murder. Soon after, Billy Lee Tuttle dies from an overdose. The real cause of his death remains unknown. However, he either died from suicide or someone from the cult killed him.

2012 - True Detective Season 1

Rust Is Spotted On The Stephanie L Kordish Crime Scene

After Rust is found surveilling the death of a woman named Stephanie L Kordish, whose murder seems eerily similar to Dora Lange's, Louisiana State PD detectives Maynard Gilbough and Thomas Papania bring Rust and Marty in for interviews. During the interview, Rust and Marty open up about their past relationship, their investigation of the Dora Lange case, and their eventual fallout.

Rust And Marty Reunite And Track Down Errol Childress

Despite not talking at all after their 2002 fight, Rust convinces Marty to help him find the real killer after showing him Marie Fontenot's video. Marty agrees to team up with him again, and the two eventually link the murders and disappearances to Errol Childress. In True Detective season 1's final arc, Rust and Marty finally arrive at an old stone ruin that Errol refers to as Carcosa. Although Errol almost manages to kill them, Rust ends up shooting him dead. This closes the Dora Lange case, while the FBI denies that Errol Childress was related to Senator Edwin Tuttle.

2015 - True Detective Seasons 2 & 3

True Detective Season 3 Draws Subtle Nods To Season 1

In True Detective season 3's 2015 timeline, Wayne meets journalist Elisa Montgomery after agreeing to be a part of a true-crime documentary called "True Criminal." During the interview, Elisa briefly mentions the crooked spirals and their connection with pedophile groups. She also shows a newspaper clipping of Rust Cohle and Marty Hart on her laptop, highlighting how the season 1 conspiracy could be linked to the Purcell case. Elisa also implies that the Purcell kids must have been sold to the pedophile rings by their parents.

Wayne Learns the Truth About Julie's Fate

The black man with one eye, Junius Watts, ultimately reveals the truth. He discloses that Isabel Hoyt used to initially play with Julie because she reminded her of her late daughter. However, one day, when Isabel stopped taking her lithium pills, she ended up forcing Julie to go with her. When Will tried to stop her, she accidentally killed him.

Isabel kept Julie, but when Julie grew up, Watts helped her escape before she went missing. Julie eventually ended up on the streets and even contracted HIV. True Detective season 3 ends with Wayne tracking down Julie through her daughter, Lucy, and eventually arriving at their home to learn about Julie's fate. However, his neurological disorder gets the best of him, and he forgets why he showed up at their place.

True Detective Season 2 Ensues

Unlike True Detective seasons 1 and 3, season 2 does not draw any direct references or narrative intersections with other seasons and also follows a linear timeline. It also never explicitly explains the time period it is set in, but several clues hint that it unfolds in the year 2015. For instance, season 2's episode 1 features a shot of the calendar, which highlights that it is taking place in October 2015. However, there seems to be a minor discrepancy in the 2015 timeline. Episode 8 features a shot of Ray's phone that suggests his undelivered message to Chad was sent on Tuesday, 20th January.

Since 20th January was a Tuesday in the year 2015 according to real-world calenders, the timeline of episode 8's events is technically set before episode 1's. Since this narrative does not make sense, it was likely a creative oversight. Or, one can assume True Detective season 2 ensues in a parallel universe where Tuesday, 20th January, is a date in 2016.

2017 - True Detective Season 4

Annie Masu Kowtok Gets Murdered

Since True Detective: Night Country takes place in 2023, and Danvers confirms that Annie was found dead six years before the Tsalal incident, it seems likely that Annie was murdered in 2017. This suggests that Annie might have started dating Raymond Clark sometime in 2016 or early 2017. As her phone video reveals in True Detective: Night Country's episode 3, she found something in the ice cave in 2017 before someone found her there and killed her. Four days after she died in 2017, Raymond Clark got the same crooked spiral tattoo as her on his chest.

2023 - True Detective Season 4

The Tsalal Researchers Dissapear

True Detective: Night Country's opening scene reveals what happened at the Tsalal facility moments before the researchers disappeared and explicitly mentions that the date is December 17, 2023. Seconds before the researchers vanish from the Arctic lab, Raymond suddenly starts shivering and exclaims, "She awake!" Since the researchers kept to themselves, no one noticed their absence for a few days.

A Delivery Man Notices The Researchers' Absence

Three days after the incident, on December 20th, a delivery man arrives at the Tsalal research facility. He finds the facility deserted and even notices a dismembered tongue on the ground. He alerts law enforcement, and that is when the APF shows up at the location to investigate.

The Researchers Are Found Frozen In Ice

Travis Cohle seemingly appears and points Rose toward the frozen researchers. When Danvers and other APF detectives arrive at the location, they discover one researcher, Anders Lund, is still alive. A few days later, after they thaw the bodies in Ennis' skating rink, they realize that Raymond Clark is missing, making him a primary suspect in the murders.

Danvers & Navarro Investigate The Case & Its Links With Annie's Death

Navarro initially tries to investigate the murders by herself, assuring Navarro that it has nothing to do with Annie's death. However, a DNA test of the tongue and Annie's relationship with Raymond Clark suggest that the two cases are connected. With this, the two central detectives in True Detective: Night Country set out to learn what happened to the Tsalal researchers and what they had to do with Annie's demise.