To prepare, Matthew McConaughey created a four hundred fifty-page analysis, the "Four Stages of Rustin Cohle," to study his character's evolution over the course of the story.

According to Matthew McConaughey, the entirety of Rust Cohle's interview scenes were shot in one day; this means about twenty-eight pages of a four hundred fifty page season one script were filmed over the course of an eighteen hour work day.

Episodes averaged 11.2 million viewers, making it the most watched first season of an HBO original series since Band of Brothers (2001).

Rust Cohle is based on a high school teacher in Arkansas, who also worked on the police force.

Season one was originally planned as an HBO original mini-series, but the network was so impressed, they decided to turn it into an anthology television show.