Nicolas Cage Lets It Slip: He’s Headed to ‘True Detective’ Season 5

Nicolas Cage has never been great at keeping secrets, and on Saturday he didn’t try very hard. Speaking at a spotlight panel at New York Comic Con at the Javits Center, he told the crowd, “I think I might do a season of ‘True Detective.’” As fans cheered, he added, “That’s okay that I’m the first to announce that, right?”

HBO declined to comment. But the remark all but confirms what has been reported since August: Cage is set to lead the fifth season of HBO’s crime anthology. He reportedly plays Henry Logan, a New York detective working the case at the center of the new season.

Cage also explained the move. He told the crowd he can only make so many movies back to back, and that he would probably do another season of television.

I think I might do a season of ‘True Detective.’ That’s okay that I’m the first to announce that, right?Nicolas Cage, at New York Comic Con

Jamaica Bay

The new season is set around Jamaica Bay, the sprawl of marshland, islands and open water on the edge of Queens and Brooklyn, in the shadow of JFK Airport. It’s a corner of New York that rarely shows up on screen, which may be exactly the point.

Issa López, who created and ran the fourth season, “True Detective: Night Country,” is back as writer and showrunner under her overall deal with HBO. She has said the new season lives in the same world as her last one, with more references back to it. “It’s the same universe, and the magical realism is my brand, so it will be there,” López said.

That’s a promising sign for HBO. “Night Country,” which starred Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as investigators working a cold case in the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska, drew 12.7 million cross-platform viewers, the most-watched season in the show’s history, according to Variety.

A lineage of leads

Cage joins a heavy list. Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson defined the show in its 2014 debut. Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams led season 2, Mahershala Ali anchored season 3, and Jodie Foster led season 4. Each season has a new story, a new setting and new detectives, which has made casting the lead one of the bigger events on TV.

Why Cage fits

The casting lands in the middle of one of the great late-career runs in Hollywood. After years of direct-to-video work, Cage has reminded audiences what he can do with films like “Pig,” in which he played a grieving chef searching for his stolen truffle pig, the self-mocking “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” the dark comedy “Dream Scenario” and the horror hit “Longlegs,” in which he played a serial killer opposite a young FBI agent.