Did People Really Think True Detective Was Going To Get A Season 3?

Report suggests show is over at HBO.

True Detective
HBO

Maybe flat circles do have an end. The internet is abuzz with reports that True Detective is done, with no Season 3 planned and show creator Nic Pizzolatto moving onto a new writing project.

Now we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves mourning/celebrating (depending on how much you hated Season 2) the demise of the once-awesome show with certainty. The entire Twitter storm comes from a single line of supposition in an article from THR on the wider state of HBO and the appointment of Casey Bloys as Programming Chief that is heavy on the suggestions:

While juggernaut Game of Thrones and the final season of Damon Lindelof's Peabody-winning drama The Leftovers shouldn't require too much of Bloys' time, other decisions, including the fate of True Detective, now fall to him. (HBO sources suggest a new project from creator Nic Pizzolatto is more likely.)

Still, while not confirmed, based on the way that's phrased True Detective likely is done. Although what's more surprising than that is the fact people are actually surprised about it. Did anybody seriously think the show would return after a slow-motion car crash of a second year?

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It's easy to see why Season 2 didn't work; it was, in a word, rushed. Pizzolatto had the idea for Season 1 in his head for years and in that time developed and redeveloped the tale of the Yellow King, refining it to the point it was transcendent storytelling. In fact, he was originally considering making it a novel before HBO came a knocking. He'll have known every facet of the world, every turn in the decade-spanning plot and every specific point of its hefty thematic underpinning. For Season 2 he had a year-and-a-half to do the same.

So even putting aside how alcoholic Colin Farrell and closeted Taylor Kitsch destroyed all the built up goodwill from Messrs McConaughey and Harrelson, a Season 3 would be fighting an uphill battle; we're talking a development and production time that, to do it right, would put the release into late-2018 at the earliest. Suddenly it seems it wasn't even worth holding out hope.

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Season 3 could have been something great, sure, but odds are that Season 1 was a one-off and that more would only further sully the name. Maybe it's all for the best.

What do you think of True Detective's potential cancellation? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments.

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Film Editor (2014-2016). Loves The Usual Suspects. Hates Transformers 2. Everything else lies somewhere in the middle. Once met the Chuckle Brothers.