Here’s some new evidence that HBO’s sprawling criminal anthology True Detective might not be as dead as the reception that greeted its second season might lead you to believe: Deadline reports that Moonlight and Luke Cage star Mahershala Ali—currently much in demand after his Oscar-winning turn in Barry Jenkins’ celebrated coming-of-age feature—is in talks to star in a potential third season of the series.
Of course, there are any number of questions currently floating around True Detective season 3. Will David Milch get involved? Can creator Nic Pizzolatto find another subject capable of galvanizing water cooler discussions the way he did in 2014? Have we used up every possible variation on the “time is a flat circle“ joke? For now, it’s all still up in the air, but Ali’s involvement would presumably be a big push in the direction of a third season of the series actually coming around again. (Get it?)