True Detective Season 1 was a massive hit. True Detective Season 2…not so much. There were a lot of reasons that Season 2 didn’t work as well—the cast was a bit too large, the plotting a little too convoluted, and it lacked the thematic punch and intensity of the first season. But it looks like True Detective Season 3 is going to get things back on track, or at least use part of the formula that made Season 1 a success. HBO has released a new True Detective Season 3 trailer, and it looks far more in line with Season 1 than Season 2.

The plot of the new season follows detectives (played by Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff) trying to solve a crime involving two missing children in the Ozarks in the 1980s. But as this trailer emphasizes, the new season will, like Season 1, jump between three time periods with Ali’s character looking back on what happened. I don’t know if the show will still have the original spark of Season 1, which really does feel like lightning in a bottle between writer, director, and cast, but it’s enough to at least make me intrigued. That’s saying something after Season 2 turned out to be a massive dud, but so far the advertising for Season 3 is doing a solid job of holding my interest. I’ll probably be tuning in for at least the first two episodes if the reviews are solid.

Check out the True Detective Season 3 trailer below. The show returns to HBO on January 13, 2019 and also stars Carmen Ejogo, Mamie Gummer, Ray Fisher, and Scoot McNairy.

Here’s the official synopsis for True Detective Season 3:

True Detective returns January 13, 2019 on HBO. From Creator and Executive Producer Nic Pizzolatto and starring Academy Award Winner Mahershala Ali, Stephen Dorff, Carmen Ejogo; the third season sees detectives investigating a grisly crime involving two missing children in the heart of the Ozarks.

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Image via HBO
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Image via HBO
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Image via HBO