7 TV Villains Secretly Introduced Way Earlier Than You Realise
3. The Yellow King - True Detective
True Detective's masterful first season revolves around the mystery of the shadowy serial killer known as the Yellow King, who in the season finale is revealed to be scarred school caretaker Errol Childress (Glenn Fleshler).
And while Childress does make an upfront appearance earlier in the season, showing up in the third episode "The Locked Room," most fans missed that creator Nic Pizzolatto sneakily confirmed him to be the Yellow King in this very scene.
As detectives Rust (Matthew McConaughey) and Marty (Woody Harrelson) pay the lawnmower-riding Childress a visit, a sign in the foreground of the establishing shot shows a sign with the words "Notice King" visible. As in, notice the Yellow King is right here.
Obviously it's an extremely subtle hint at what's to come, but that didn't stop a few fans catching it at the time and ultimately being proven right at the end of the season.
As such, this scene wasn't so much introducing audiences to Errol Childress as it was the Yellow King.