True Detective” Season 3 has been officially greenlit by HBO, and they managed to rope in a recent Oscar winner to star in it. Mahershala Ali, who got the Academy Award trophy for Best Supporting Actor in the most recent awards season, is confirmed to be playing the lead role in the latest iteration in the anthology series.

‘Luke Cage’ alum enters HBO territory

According to Comic Book Reader, Mahershala Ali, famous for his role as Cottonmouth in “Luke Cage,” will be playing Wayne Hays, a state police detective in Arkansas who gets tangled in a three-decade case.

HBO hopes to ride Ali’s goodwill in the industry to revive a potentially long-lasting franchise after its second season failed to achieve the critical acclaim received by the first season led by Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey.

It can be remembered that even with a star-studded cast that includes Rachel McAdams, Vince Vaughn, and Colin Farrell, the season preceding “True Detective” Season 3 was ravaged by critics due to one-dimensional characters and the pace of the story.

After the first season became the darling of the 2014 Emmy Awards, the second season failed to land a nomination, a devastating fall from grace even by TV standards.

Hopes for revival heard

There was a time when it was not sure whether there would be a third season due to the critic bashing that happened with the second season.

A glimmer of hope was seen when HBO programming president Casey Bloys saw great promise in the five scripts he saw for the new season back in July.

HBO is in dire need of a new hit as its two top hits, “Game of Thrones” and “Westworld” will not be coming back until 2019 and late 2018 respectively.

The Hollywood Reporter says that series producer Nic Pizzolatto will be the sole writer of the new season (except for one, which will be co-penned by David Milch).

There will also be a change behind the camera as Pizzolatto will be partnered with relative new blood Jeremy Saulnier. Season one stars Harrelson and McConaughey will be returning as executive producers of “True Detective” Season 3, along with Pizzolatto, Saulnier, Scott Stephens, Steve Golin, Richard Brown, Bard Dorros and Cary Fukunaga.

HBO has not announced any release date for “True Detective” Season 3 or episode count but the earliest that the season will air will most likely be in 2019.

Mahershala Ali, on the other hand, will next be seen in the movie “Roxanne Roxanne,” which was screened at January’s Sundance Film Festival.