True Detective Season 3: Everything You Need To Know

2. The Timelines

True Detective Season 3
HBO

One of the elements that helped make the first season of True Detective so popular was its structure, with the story of detectives Rust Cohle and Marty Hart playing out in non-linear fashion, switching between the 'present' of 2012 and the past of 1995.

Season 3 is going to go even further with that, playing out in three separate decades. The story begins in 1980, when the crime in question takes place and Hays is a young(ish) detective investigating the case.

Another timeline is set in the 1990s, when new evidence emerges about the case, and finally part of the story is set during the current decade, with a much-older Hays forced to look back on the crime that would come to define his life.

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Contributor
Contributor

NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.