True Detective season 3 trailer: Mahershala Ali's season returns to successful format of McConaughey's

Action will move between protagonist trying to solve the case in the past, and discussing it in the present day

HBO has released a trailer for True Detective season 3, seeing Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali play the latest tortured detective.

The show's second season disappointed many critics and viewers, but it looks as though the third will have a format similar to the hugely popular first, bouncing between Mahershala Ali's protagonist Wayne Hays trying to solve a case in the past and talking about it in the present day.

But while Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson shared most of the screen time in season 1, it looks as though Ali will work alone for the most part.

(HBO)

The case this time is the disappearance of two children in the Ozarks. It's one that will haunt the detective for decades and become big news, with a grey-haired Hays being interviewed for a TV show in the trailer.

Cary Fukunaga directed the first season, going on to land the coveted gig of directing the new Bond film. This time around, Jeremy Saulnier (Green Room) has directed the first two episodes, the remaining six being divided between Game of Thrones and The Americans director Daniel Sackheim, and True Detective showrunner Nic Pizzolatto, who makes his directorial debut.

True Detective season 3 arrives on HBO on 13 January, with a Sky Atlantic broadcast in the UK expected to follow soon after.