True Detective's anticipated third season has landed to critical-acclaim for its strong return to form, Mahershala Ali's magnetic performance and a strong supporting role from Stephen Dorff.
Set in Arkansas across three decades, it follows the story of two missing children, Will and Julie Purcell - a case which has haunted Ali's Detective Wayne Hays for thirty years.
Just two episodes in, and the show is instantly evocative of season one with its gothic feel, relentless sense of foreboding, and southern state backdrop with vast and eerie woodlands.
Dorff - who stars as Detective Roland West, rarely seen without a beer and/or cigarette in hand (it was the '80s, and then the '90s after all) - has suggested that season one is still on the mind of the show's creator Nic Pizzolatto, because he would love to bring back all of the characters for an extra special series at some point in the future.
"I would love to work with Nic again, and I would love to play Roland again... Nic always said he'd like to do something one day where he gets to bring back all of the characters, like Rust Cohle [Matthew McConnaughey]," Dorff told Esquire.co.uk.
"And so you don't know what that would be. I would never turn it down! It [the idea] is all in that crazy brain of Nic's. All I know is I love to work with Nic again, and I told him he should direct because all these directors are doing his novels and making movies, and he hates them all so I said you should direct. I'd like to see him get behind the camera to direct some of his other material."
Dorff also disclosed that McConaughey attended the show's LA premiere and seemed pretty "jazzed" by it, gave him a hug, and told him: "great ownership".
"I thought season one was really a masterful piece of work, and then the second one went in a little bit of a different direction," the Somewhere star continued. "I liked the second one, it was well made.
"Also Nic, the way he talks about season two, it was made off the success of the first one, and they gave him a year to write, make and deliver it, and it felt a bit rushed. I thought the third one was brilliant when I read it."
Meanwhile, commenting on Ali's recent comments to Esquire that the show's finale was the best piece of television he has ever read, Dorff affirmed that it was extremely emotional, and very different from season one's conclusion.
"Nic held that back from us for a while, it was in his head but he hadn't put it on page or given it to anyone until there months into shooting," the actor recalled.
"I remember reading it and bawling. It's pretty beautiful and poetic... It's really special and different. All I would say, it's very different from the ending of season one, how it all wrapped and you got the bad guy... But there is closure."
True Detective episodes 1 & 2 are directed by director Daniel Sackheim.
True Detective Season 3 Episode 1 & 2 is available now on streaming service NOW TV, with a new episode released every Monday and on demand.
Catch up with Season 1 & 2 available now with the NOW TV Entertainment Pass for just £7.99.
True Detective airs on Sundays on Sky Atlantic at 10pm.
Naomi Gordon is news writer mainly covering entertainment news with a focus on celebrity interviews and television.
