True Detective season 3: Mahershala Ali in talks to lead series

The Oscar-winner would follow in Matthew McConaughey and Colin Farrell's footsteps

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Since taking home the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his phenomenal role on break-out hit Moonlight, Mahershala Ali has been fairly quiet (minus a recent guest appearance on a teaser for Jay Z's 4:44).

Along with a role in the Roxanne Shanté biopic, Roxanne Roxanne, Alit currently has two other projects lined up, both set for 2018: a role in manga adaptation Alita: Battle Angel and voicing Prowler in Lord and Miller’s animated Spider-Man film.

With regard TV roles, having completed work on Luke Cage and House of Cards, there’s nothing in the pipeline for Ali. According to The Hollywood Reporter, that cold all be about to change.

The publication claims Ali is currently in talks with HBO about leading the third series of True Detective, following in Matthew McConaughey and Colin Farrell’s footsteps.

A deal is reportedly far from being complete, and whether the show will return still remains slightly contentious. HBO has declined to formally comment but reports recently claimed the show would definitely return, with some help from Deadwood’s David Milch.

HBO head of programming, Casey Bloys, told reporters of True Detective’s return last year: "We're open to someone else writing it with Nic [Pizzolatto, creator] supervising it; it's a really valuable franchise for us. It’s not dead; I'm just not sure we have the right take for a third season — yet."