At the heart of the first two seasons of True Detective were mysteries surrounding vicious and disturbing murders, but the biggest unknown about Season 3 is if it will actually happen or not. Things are looking extremely good for a third season now, too, as HBO's programming head Casey Bloys told the crowd at this year's TCA that several wheels are spinning in getting a new True Detective case for audiences to feast over. In his words:
I have read five scripts for a third season and I think they are terrific. We have a deal with Mahershala Ali to play the lead. Right now, we are talking to directors. When we find a director that we want to hire we'll be a go for that. We're much closer on True Detective.
That's a relative smorgasbord of information coming out of Casey Bloys, whose TCA announcement (via TV Guide) cemented a few things that fans were only capable of assuming before. Perhaps the most exciting element here is the casting confirmation that House of Cards and Luke Cage star Mahershala Ali will be making the jump from Netflix to HBO for True Detective Season 3. Ali's shot at nabbing a lead role in the dark drama made waves earlier this month, but it was before any deals had been put in place. (Can we get some kinda confirmation about Matthew McConaughey coming back, too?)
The second big update there is that there are five scripts currently written for Season 3, and while it was assumed that something was cemented as far as the storyline went, it wouldn't have been the craziest thing in the world to discover that there were some obstacles to be found in the teaming of True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto with Deadwood creator David Milch. Not that there would necessarily be problems, but speaking as a pragmatist, a concept as exciting as a Milch-scripted season of True Detective won't feel real until its premiere is halfway finished. We're saying the same thing about the Deadwood reunion movie, too.
Closing things out is the hunt for True Detective's next director(s), as announced by Casey Bloys. Looking for a director means that all involved aren't solely thinking about the story just on the script pages anymore, and it's entirely possible that shooting locations and other details are being worked out behind the scenes, feasibly allowing for a production start in a few months. Depending on how big the central story is, of course. After the sprawling nature of Season 2, I wouldn't be surprised to see things get scaled back a bit for Season 3, but Mahershala Ali will likely be the biggest and best thing on the screen, anyway.
While we obviously don't have any idea when True Detective Season 3 would hit HBO, assuming it gets an official order, there are more than enough things on HBO right now to keep you busy. (Yes, we're talking about Game of Thrones and Insecure.) To see when everything else is hitting the small screen soon, check out our summer premiere schedule.
