HBO has announced premiere dates for three anticipated series this coming January.

  • True Detective – The limited series True Detective will debut on Sunday, January 12th at 9/8c.  The eight-episode show stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as a pair of detectives whose lives collide and entwine during a seventeen-year hunt for a serial killer in Louisiana.  Cary Fukunaga (Sin Nombre, Jane Eyre), directed all eight episodes.  Watch the excellent trailer here.
  • Girls – Season three of Girls will premiere on Sunday, January 12th with two back-to-back episodes starting at 10/9c.  The show stars Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, Adam Driver, and Alex Karpovsky.
  • Looking – The new half-hour gay dramedy series Looking will debut on Sunday, January 19th.  From Weekend director Andrew Haigh, the show stars Jonathan Groff and revolves around three friends in San Francisco who explore the fun and sometimes overwhelming options available to a new generation of gay men.

Hit the jump to check out first-look images and synopses for all three series.

TRUE DETECTIVE debuts SUNDAY, JAN. 12 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT) on HBO. The series stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as Louisiana detectives Rust Cohle and Martin Hart, whose lives collide and entwine during a 17-year hunt for a killer, ranging from the original investigation of a bizarre murder in 1995 to the reopening of the case in 2012. Michelle Monaghan also stars as Hart’s wife, Maggie, who struggles to keep her family together as the men in her life become locked in a cycle of violence and obsession. Written by Nic Pizzolatto and directed by Cary Fukunaga, who are executive producers along with Steve Golin and Scott Stephens.

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GIRLS returns for its third season immediately after the debut of TRUE DETECTIVE with a special presentation of two episodes back-to-back SUNDAY, JAN. 12 (10:00-11:00 p.m.), on HBO, followed by other half-hour episodes on subsequent Sundays at the same time. Created by and starring Lena Dunham, the Emmy®-winning series is a comic look at the assorted humiliations and rare triumphs of a group of girls in their 20s. Dunham executive produces along with Judd Apatow, Jenni Konner and Ilene S. Landress; Bruce Eric Kaplan is consulting producer. The cast also includes Jemima Kirke, Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet, Adam Driver and Alex Karpovsky.

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LOOKING debuts SUNDAY, JAN. 19 (10:30-11:00 p.m.) on HBO. The series revolves around three friends in San Francisco who explore the fun and sometimes overwhelming options available to a new generation of gay men. Created by Michael Lannan and executive produced by Andrew Haigh (“Weekend”) and Sarah Condon (“Bored to Death”), the show stars Jonathan Groff, Frankie J. Alvarez and Murray Bartlett. Special guest stars include Russell Tovey and Scott Bakula.

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Image via HBO