It’s not a fever dream—True Detective Season 3 is really happening, and the cast is growing. While it was unclear if HBO would order another season of the anthology series after Season 2 suffered a critical shellacking, all it took was some time. Now Season 3 is coming together, and in addition to Mahershala Ali and Carmen Ejogo, actor Stephen Dorff has now joined the cast in a co-lead role.

The story of True Detective Season 3 takes place in the heart of the Ozarks, where a baffling crime influences the lives of characters over three decades. Ali plays Wayne Hays, a state police detective from northwest Arkansas, and Dorff will play an Arkansas State Investigator whose career has also been influenced by the aforementioned crime. Ejogo is the third piece of the puzzle, an Arkansas schoolteacher with a connection to two children who went missing in the 1980s.

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Image via Netflix

Creator Nic Pizzolatto is back as showrunner and has written every episode of Season 3 aside from Episode 4, which he co-wrote with David Milch. Indeed, HBO paired Pizzolatto up with Milch to hopefully work out any Season 2 kinks for a potential third season, so the Deadwood creator had a hand in putting this new season together. Pizzolatto will also direct some of the Season 3 episodes alongside Green Room helmer Jeremy Saulnier, who was chosen as the principal director for True Dectective Season 3. This brings the show back in line with Season 1, the entirety of which was directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, while multiple directors worked on Season 2.

As a True Detective apologist I was already looking forward to Season 3, but the Arkansas setting, this cast, and Saulnier’s involvement should go a long way towards helping people forget about the misfires of Season 2. No word on a premiere date just yet, but I would bet on very late 2018 or early 2019.

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Image via HBO
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Image via Starz