Det. Thomas Papania

Papania is one half of the detective duo re-investigating a decade-old case, sitting across from Rust Cohle in 2012 with a folder of questions and a poker face. Sharp, watchful, and a little skeptical of the strange, burned-out man across the table, he presses for details while giving away as little as possible himself.

The show needs a credible skeptic to keep Cohle's philosophizing grounded, and Kittles plays that role with quiet precision—he listens more than he talks, and his reactions do a lot of the work. It's a disciplined, unshowy performance that keeps the present-day frame tense without ever competing for the spotlight.