The finale of the HBO miniseries Sharp Objects last night came with a big surprise when it was over: The series True Detective is out of developmental hell and aired a teaser trailer for the third season to prove it.

The Emmy-winning anthology series had been on hiatus since the lukewarm reception of season two back in 2015. Viewers and critics believed that the series was finished, even series creator Nic Pizzolatto was unsure of its future. Since earlier in the year, it’s been known that Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali was tapped to play the lead role for the season. Last night was the unexpected, but long-awaited confirmation. From the looks of the trailer, it bears similarities to the acclaimed inaugural season in that it also takes places in a southern state and employs three different time periods as part of the narrative.

This is the description from HBO for season three: “Oscar winner Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, House of Cards) will play detective Wayne Hays, a state police detective from Northwest Arkansas. Stephen Dorff (Somewhere, Immortals) is set to play Arkansas State Investigator Roland West. Carmen Ejogo (Selma, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) will play school teacher Amelia Reardon, who is connected to two missing children.

Additional cast members include Josh Hopkins, who will play Jim Dobkins, a private attorney in Fayetteville, Arkansas involved in deposing state police detectives in an ongoing investigation. Scoot McNairy is Tom, a father who suffers a terrible loss which ties his fate to that of two state police detectives over ten years. Mamie Gummer stars as Lucy Purcell, a young mother of two at the center of a tragic crime. Jodi Balfour, Lonnie Chavis, Ray Fisher, Michael Greyeyes, Jon Tenney, Rhys Wakefield, Sarah Gadon, Emily Nelson, Brandon Flynn and Michael Graziadei also star.

As a fan, I’ve been waiting for this series to return and Mahershala Ali is sure to draw in quite an audience. It’s interesting to see the story unfold in the backdrop of the Ozarks. Though Ali’s character appears to be the lead detective, Stephen Dorff’s character is slated to have a substantial investigative role as well. It’ll also be interesting to see how Pizzolatto will write an African American detective in a tumultuous southern setting across different decades. There will be eight episodes for season three and Nic Pizzolatto has scripted each (co-writing fourth episode with David Milch). Pizzolatto will make his directorial debut this season; Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin, Green Room) will also direct. Pizzolatto and Saulnier will executive produce along with Scott Stephens, season one’s Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, as well as Emmy-winning season one director Cary Joji Fukunaga, Steve Golin, Bard Dorros and Richard Brown.

True Detective season three will air in January of 2019. See the teaser trailer below.

 

 

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