--- title: 'True Detective' Creator Nic Pizzolatto Denies Plagiarism description: The ideas within [Rust Cohle's] philosophy are certainly not exclusive to any writer." canonical: https://time.com/3089730/true-detective-creator-denies-plagiarism/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-07T22:41:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:33:36.049Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 'True Detective' Creator Nic Pizzolatto Denies Plagiarism og:description: The ideas within [Rust Cohle's] philosophy are certainly not exclusive to any writer." og:url: https://time.com/3089730/true-detective-creator-denies-plagiarism/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82b8975f7e6046a5/69869ecb1eebf784993722b0/truedetective02.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: True Detective og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'True Detective' Creator Nic Pizzolatto Denies Plagiarism twitter:description: The ideas within [Rust Cohle's] philosophy are certainly not exclusive to any writer." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82b8975f7e6046a5/69869ecb1eebf784993722b0/truedetective02.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _True Detective_ Creator Denies Plagiarism  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Aug 7, 2014 10:41 PM UTC  HBO  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Aug 7, 2014 10:41 PM UTC Both HBO and _True Detective’_s creator have responded to allegations of plagiarism. Nic Pizzolatto has been accused of lifting dialogue from horror novelist Thomas Ligotti for character Rust Cohle’s (Matthew McConaughey) philosophical musings. _“True Detective_ is a work of exceptional originality and the story, plot, characters and dialogue are that of Nic Pizzolatto,” HBO said in a statement, [according to](http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/08/07/true-detective-creator-plagiarism/?hootPostID=ac9e1bb89bf51f780790553cc210d72b) _Entertainment Weekly_. “Philosophical concepts are free for anyone to use, including writers of fiction, and there have been many such examples in the past. Exploring and engaging with ideas and themes that philosophers and novelists have wrestled with over time is one of the show’s many strengths—we stand by the show, its writing and Nic Pizzolatto entirely.” Writer Pizzolatto followed up with his own denial. “Nothing in the television show _True Detective_ was plagiarized,” the writer said. “The philosophical thoughts expressed by Rust Cohle do not represent any thought or idea unique to any one author; rather, these are the philosophical tenets of a pessimistic, anti-natalist philosophy with an historic tradition, including Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, E.M. Cioran and various other philosophers, all of whom express these ideas. As an autodidact pessimist, Cohle speaks toward that philosophy with erudition and in his own words. The ideas within this philosophy are certainly not exclusive to any writer.” Pizzolatto has previously said that the works of Ligotti and others have been an inspiration to him. \[[_EW_](http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/08/07/true-detective-creator-plagiarism/?hootPostID=ac9e1bb89bf51f780790553cc210d72b)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3089730/true-detective-creator-denies-plagiarism/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3089730/true-detective-creator-denies-plagiarism/"},"headline":"True Detective Creator Denies Plagiarism","datePublished":"2014-08-07T22:41:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:33:36.049Z","description":"\"The ideas within [Rust Cohle's] philosophy are certainly not exclusive to any writer\"","url":"https://time.com/3089730/true-detective-creator-denies-plagiarism/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82b8975f7e6046a5/69869ecb1eebf784993722b0/truedetective02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82b8975f7e6046a5/69869ecb1eebf784993722b0/truedetective02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"True Detective","caption":"True Detective","creditText":"HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3089730/true-detective-creator-denies-plagiarism/","name":"True Detective Creator Denies Plagiarism"}}]}] ```