Every Main Character From True Detective Ranked From Worst To Best

Two-time Academy Award Winner Mahershala Ali was never going to be taken lightly when he signed on to play Wayne Hays, the lead detective in season three. Where to begin with a character (and performance) like this?

The biggest challenge the actor must have faced was finding the unique transitions of behaviour between three specific timelines. As a young Vietnam veteran, we see Wayne present himself as not just adept at fighting but emotionally defensive as well. This is understandable when we see the racism he endures not just by suspects and witnesses, but by his fellow officers too (excluding Roland of course).

As a much older Wayne, he's almost unrecognizable. Credit has to be given to Mahershala for nailing how how an elderly gentleman would walk and talk- but one suffering the haunting stages of dementia takes it to another level.

Wayne Hays is a man both haunted and confused by his past. An intriguing decision made was to show the inciting case unfolding through scattered memories. Because Wayne is not only hiding a dark secret from the case, but living with a brain-deteriorating disease, Wayne becomes an unwilling unreliable narrator.

But ultimately he's the good guy of the story. No further questions.