15 Best New TV Characters Of The Decade
4. Detective Rust Cohle - True Detective
Yet another anthology show character makes the list here, this time Matthew McConaughey’s role from the first season of the gritty southern noir True Detective.
Woody Harrelson is decent in the first season too, while Mahershala Ali’s Purple Haze could have been in contention lower down for Season Three, but all things considered, it had to be McConaughey’s Rust. The less said about Season Two, the better.
It was through Rust Cohle that True Detective established itself as a crime show with a difference. His dialogue was laced with a black velvet poetry; an aesthetic characters who followed him have tried and largely failed to recreate. As the originator though, Rust’s delivery felt earned, his mysticism real, his pain genuine.
Told achronologically, the series deals with three separate timelines, showing Rust in various states throughout. Whether he’s an idealistic young investigator, a more grizzled veteran or a burn out though, McConaughey always brings his A game.
It came at the height of his renaissance, as he fired off stellar performances with a Gatling gun. Dallas Buyers Club, The Wolf Of Wall Street, True Detective, Interstellar... McConaughy clawed his career back in style.