Oscar winner Mahershala Ali is signed on for “True Detective” Season 3.
HBO’s president of programming Casey Bloys told reporters at TCA on Wednesday that Ali, who TheWrap had previously learned was in talks to star, has been confirmed for the third season of the anthology series.
Bloys added that he’s read five scripts so far and that they’re “all terrific.”
The network is currently in the process of finding a director.
“When we find a director that we want to hire, it’ll be a go for that,” Bloys said.
The executive also commented on the possibility of a second season for another HBO series — “The Night Of.” While HBO would consider re-upping the mini-series, there aren’t concrete plans yet.
“The good news about someone like [co-creator] Steven Zaillian, he will come to you when he’s ready,” Bloys said. “But when he comes to us, we’ll know that he’s locked into something.”
The Season 2 finale of “True Detective” aired back in August 2015. The show’s first season, which starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as cops in Louisiana and aired in 2014, was popular with critics and viewers. But Season 2, set in California and featuring Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn and Rachel McAdams, was less so.
The series, created by Nic Pizzolatto, is an anthology series that follows, as the title suggests, detectives whose morals and philosophies are put into question by the cases they’re a part of. The first season took place in Louisiana while the second took place in California.
Ali won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his turn as drug dealer and surrogate father figure Juan in 2016’s “Moonlight,” which also nabbed the Best Picture prize. He has had parts in such films as “Hidden Figures” and the “Hunger Games” series, along with recurring roles on the TV shows “House of Cards” and “Luke Cage.”