True Detective's channel is HBO.
Colin Farrell . In 2015 , he starred as Detective Ray Velcoro in the second season of HBO 's True Detective , and also starred in the film The Lobster , for which he was nominated for his second Golden Globe Award for Best Actor -- Motion Picture Musical or Comedy . Matthew McConaughey . In 2014 , he also starred as Rust Cohle in the first season of HBO 's crime anthology series True Detective , for which he won a Critics ' Choice Award and was nominated for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award . Rustin Spencer `` Rust '' Cohle is a fictional character in the first season of the anthology crime drama television series True Detective on HBO . True Detective is an American anthology crime drama television series created and written by Nic Pizzolatto . The first season received generally excellent reviews from critics and earned high ratings for HBO .