Yes, 'True Detective' Is Returning for a Third Season

HBO has officially greenlit the third season of True Detective, Deadline reports, after a summer spent nabbing big names and drumming up some buzz after that brain-bleedingly awful second season—promising "terrific" new scripts that likely won't include conversations about robot blowjobs or whatever.

During the Television Critics Association's annual press event last July, HBO's president of programming Casey Bloys announced Oscar winner Mahershala Ali was on board to star. But the network still had to find a director before giving the new season the final OK.

Now, it looks like they've snagged one. Jeremy Saunier, director of Blue Ruin, Green Room, and general filmmaking sorcerer, has signed on, moving season three closer to production. True Detective creator and writer Nic Pizzolatto is stepping away from the keyboard to make his directorial debut this season, as well.

According to Deadline, the new season spans three time periods and takes place in the Ozarks—America's new hotbed of crime and ill-gotten gains, apparently. Mahershala Ali will play an Arkansas state detective named Wayne Hays.

Pizzolatto developed the new story with help from David Milch, of NYPD Blue and Deadwood fame, and the pair co-wrote an episode together. Between Saulnier, Ali, and Milch, the new season looks like it might actually be a worthy successor to season one—an honor last season's Colin Farrell shitshow never really earned.

"I'm tremendously thrilled to be working with artists at the level of Mahershala and Jeremy," Pizzolatto wrote in a statement Thursday. "I hope the material can do justice to their talents, and we're all very excited to tell this story."