Writer Nic Pizzolatto made a killing on HBO with the first season of True Detective. Starring Matthew McConaughey (who was in the midst of the McConaissance and on the verge of his first Oscar) and Woody Harrelson, the pseudo-supernatural detective drama became a sensation, prompting HBO to make another round of the anthology series with a new cast, setting, and story. Season 2 didn’t stick the landing as the network and fans hoped, but we haven’t heard the last of Pizzolatto.

While the future of True Detective is still unclear, THR reports that sources within HBO are suggesting it’s more likely viewers will see an entirely new series from the writer. Cary Fukunaga, who emerged into the spotlight more with his brilliant direction of Season 1, found new life helming Beasts of No Nation and perhaps now a miniseries event for HBO centered around Stanley Kubrick’s lost Napoleon project. It seems like Pizzolatto is doing the same. He inked a two-year overall deal with HBO last fall that would see him churning out new content through 2018. At the time, reports stated a number of new projects were being considered, though anything more specific is unclear.


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Image via HBO

True Detective Season 2 featured Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Vince Vaughn, and Taylor Kitsch as four leads instead of two. HBO’s former programming president, Michael Lombardo, took the blame earlier this year for the lackluster run, stating:

Well, you know what? I set him up. To deliver, in a very short time frame, something that became very challenging to deliver. That’s not what that show is. He had to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. Find his muse. And so I think that’s what I learned from it. Don’t do that anymore.

Pizzolatto is certainly a talent, and the network seems committed to figure out some way to utilize his skills. During the interim, he worked on the screenplay for Antoine Fuqua’s remake of The Magnificent Seven, starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Matt Bomer, and Vincent D’Onofrio. That film is scheduled for release on September 23rd, and it would seem like a smart idea for HBO to capitalize on Pizzolatto’s involvement by announcing some sort of new project around then.


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Image via HBO
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Image via HBO
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Image via HBO