Two days after the finale of HBO’s “True Detective: Night Country,” Kali Reis was rolling hand wraps, alone, inside a training center on a farm in northern New Jersey.
Before she was ever cast in the anthology series as Evangeline Navarro, a steely Alaska state trooper; before she walked red carpets in London, Paris and Los Angeles; before she ate Christmas dinner at her co-star Jodie Foster’s house, Ms. Reis was a champion boxer. Her most recent bout, though, was fought online.
The night before, Nic Pizzolatto, the creator of “True Detective,” had reposted a series of fan complaints about the finale on Instagram, apparently in an effort to distance himself from the show’s just-concluded fourth season — the first that he hadn’t written.
Ms. Reis, 37, is familiar with trash talk, online haters and naysayers. “Boxing is a beautiful craft, but it’s brutal,” she said, adding, “Everybody’s got an opinion.” The same goes for acting, she has found, especially since the show’s finale aired. In her experience, there’s always that one “dedicated troll,” she laughed.
Ms. Reis (pronounced reece) quickly snapped back in her own late-night post, calling Mr. Pizzolatto’s comments “a damn shame.” According to HBO, her season of “True Detective” drew 12.7 million viewers across various platforms — more than any of the show’s previous three seasons. A few days after the finale, the network renewed the series for another season, with the new showrunner expected to return. (Through a representative, Mr. Pizzolatto declined to comment for this article.)
Ms. Reis, right, and her co-star Jodie Foster, in a scene from “True Detective: Night Country.”Credit…HBO
