You didn’t have to tell us twice that True Detective Season 3 was go with Mahershala Ali leading the cast, but HBO is making it official. Not only is the third season confirmed, but Green Room director Jeremy Saulnier will go behind the camera, and our first story details have arrived.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, series creator Nic Pizzolatto will serve as primary writer, aided by Deadwood boss David Milch, who will direct the fourth episode. Pizzolatto will also showrun and direct with Jeremy Saulnier, while additional executive producers include Scott Stephens, Woody Harrelson, Matthew McConaughey and original director Cary Fukunaga.

As to the story, True Detective Season 3 will follow “a macabre crime in the heart of the Ozarks, and a mystery that deepens over decades and plays out in three separate time periods,” much as the first season leapt through time. Moonlight Oscar-winner and Luke Cage star Ali will lead the cast as Wayne Hays, a state police detective from Northwest Arkansas.

Pizzolatto maintains an overall development deal at HBO, though he left behind a Perry Mason series with Robert Downey Jr. producing and starring to concentrate on True Detective. No premiere estimate has yet been issued for the third season.

We’ll hear more in the coming months, but does True Detective Season 3 sound like a promising improvement over the second run?

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