Mahershala Ali Officially Joins True Detective Season 3

EW – #TrueDetectiveSeason3 will star Mahershala Ali.

During Wednesday’s Television Critics Association’s press tour in Pasadena, California, HBO president of programming Casey Bloys confirmed the network has a deal with the Oscar-winning Moonlight actor to star in a potential third season of the anthology series.

“I have read five scripts for a third season,” Bloys said. “I’m very very impressed and excited about what I’ve read. I don’t want to give away the storyline, but I really think they’re terrific.”

Bloys added the network is currently on the hunt for directors, which would appear to be the final step before scoring an official greenlight. Cary Joji Fukunaga directed all eight episodes of the first season, while the second season was split up among directors, including Fast Five filmmaker Justin Lin.

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Contrary to popular belief, True Detective was not cancelled after Season 2 and in fact, will return for a Season 3. True Detective Season 1 was arguably one of the greatest seasons of television ever. What Matt McConaughey and Woody Harrelson did that year might never be duplicated again. Rust Cohle and Marty Hart. The acting, the writing, the suspense. All of it made for superb television. The ending scene to Episode 4 is in my Top 5 scenes on any TV show ever.

Then, Season 2 came along and it was garbage. I tried to defend it because Season 1 was so good, but after the ending, there was just no defense. It had A LOT of problems. For starters, I didn’t like how there were 4 lead characters. I understand that the dynamic of Rust and Marty would be hard to duplicate, but adding more characters doesn’t necessarily mean it would be better. I feel the same way about superhero team movies. I don’t like when it’s 10 superheroes against one villain. Give me one hero and one villain. Focus on character development and tell a story. The same with True Detective. There were too many intertwining stories. It should’ve just been Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams as the leads (I’m so sorry Taylor Kitsch. I still love you, Riggins). It was admirable for Vince Vaughn to take on a role of this nature. Take a risk from the your usual buddy comedies. I get it, but it didn’t work. I think Pizzolato (creator) felt that he could create lightning in bottle again like when he made McConaughey take off. The same magic was not present with Vaughn.

So here we are. Season 3 is just about to be green lit. I like the choice of Mahershala Ali. Ali was spectacular in Moonlight and has never really had the chance to be a leading man. He’s not the superstar yet and I like that because I know he’ll have a chip on his shoulder and go all in for this role. I’m praying Pizzolato and Co. learned from the mistakes of Season 2 and go back to what worked in Season 1. If they can create a little magic that’s close to Season 1, buckle up.