In True Detective Season 4, Finn Bennett portrays Peter Prior, a rookie cop who’s learning from Jodie Foster’s character.
After a long, multi-year break, HBO’s True Detective has finally returned. This time, the action occurs in Ennis, Alaska, where a group of men working at a research station have vanished without a trace.
4 Facts About True Detective’s Finn Bennett
Here are four other facts about True Detective: Night Country's Finn Bennett that fans of him might be curious to know:
Finn Is the First Actor in His Family
Speaking to The Standard, 28-year-old Finn Bennett discussed his schooling, remarking that he struggled with his math and science classes but that “the happiest moment of [his] week was drama class.” He’s the first member of his family to pursue acting, joking that everyone else “did real things:”
“I’m a London born Irish-British actor (my dad is very proudly Irish), I’ve lived in Hackney my entire life, I was born in Homerton hospital. I turned 24 before Christmas. I went to a local school that was very focused on maths and science, I did alright at school but was bad at that stuff. But the happiest moment of my week was drama class. And then on Saturdays I’d do Stage Coach in Islington, and they used to select 10 or 11 or us to do a play at His Majesty’s Theatre which led to me auditioning for stuff like Top Boy and The Liar and Kiri. I’m the first actor in the family, everyone else went to university and did real things!”
True Detective’s Showrunner Gave Finn COVID During Auditions
In that same interview with The Standard, the Hackey, London native discussed his friendship with Issa López, the showrunner for True Detective: Night Country.
He noted that López called him up one day and asked if he wanted to audition for the series:
“I was grateful and lucky to be part of this. Issa López the wonderful showrunner, writer, director had seen Kiri which I did for Channel 4 when I was about 18/19. She was doing another show in London at the time so I auditioned for her, but she was doing another block and it didn’t work out. But we kept in touch and she called me one day and said I’d like you to audition for the new thing I’m working on, and I said fantastic are you working in the UK and she said, no I’m writing the new season of True Detective.”
However, in an unfortunate turn of events, Finn Bennett inadvertently contracted COVID from López, meaning that he had to send in an audition tape instead of doing it in person:
“So I thought I’ll never get this but she is one of those people who you’re just drawn to, so I went along and met her. And she gave me Covid, so I couldn’t go into a meeting with casting which meant I got to do a tape for it, which I loved because it meant I could do it with a very good actor friend of mine who knew the gravity of the situation and he worked and worked on it ’til I got the take I wanted. And Issa loved it, we didn’t know how it would go down with casting and HBO that I’m a fairly small-named person, but they loved it and here we are. I feel really privileged to have had her in my corner from the start.”
Finn Felt ‘No Pressure’ Working With Jodie Foster
In True Detective, Bennett, who stands at 5'11," frequently performed opposite acclaimed actor and industry veteran Jodie Foster, who is 5'3." But instead of being intimidated by working among such established talent, he “wasn’t nervous” because Foster is “an incredibly warm and forgiving and patient individual:”
“That’s a really good point, I don’t think many people find themselves in the situation walking onto set with a twice Academy Award winning person every day so it is for want of a better word, scary. But I suppose it helped that Pete really looks up to Danvers and is inspired by her and wants to do things well for her. And I wanted to do things well for Jodie. It didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous. But Jodie is like Issa, an incredibly warm and forgiving and patient individual, so when you would get nervous in a scene, she’d just let you figure it out. There was no pressure. So, she just helps. She doesn’t make the situation worse, and I’ll be forever grateful for that.”
Finn Will Next Star in Somewhere in Dreamland
Following True Detective, Finn Bennett’s next project will be the movie Somewhere in Dreamland. It will be directed by Colin Tilley, who rose to fame with his work on music videos.
Somewhere in Dreamland is a horror movie based on the graphic novel by Elisa Victoria, which stars Whitney Peak, who previously appeared in the Gossip Girl revival. Per Variety, the plot concerns a twisted figure called Mr. Sandman who haunts the dreams of bullies and eats their eyeballs. Bennett will play the character of Shawn.
Where Can Fans Follow Finn Bennett Online?
Finn Bennett can be found on Instagram at @_finnbennett.
True Detective: Night Country airs on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET on HBO, with the next episode coming on Sunday, January 21.
