True Detective season 3 release date set for 2019, Scoot McNairy added to cast

The new season will be split into three time periods spanning just as many decades

(HBO)

True Detective season 3 won't be on TV screens until 2019, it's been confirmed.

HBO president Casey Bloys has revealed that the third run of the anthology series - set to star Mahershala Ali and Carmen Ejogo in lead roles - wouldn't be ready in time for a 2018 release so has officially been pushed to 2019.

Not a whole host is known about the forthcoming season of Niz Pizzolatto's show other than the fact it'll be set in the Ozarks and will focus on a “macabre crime“ which sparks a ”mystery that deepens over decades [that] plays out in three separate time periods.”

Ali, who won an Oscar for his supporting turn in 2017 drama Moonlight, will play Wayne Hays, the Arkansas detective at the heart of the investigation, alongside Stephen Dorff who'll assume the role of his partner, Roland West (think the Harrelson-McConaughey roles from season 1). Ejogo is set to play schoolteacher Amelia Reardon who is the wife of Ali's character.

Yet another cast addition has been announced in the form of Scoot McNairy who follows up recent roles in TV shows such as Fargo, Halt and Catch Fire and Netflix's Godless to play Tom, a father with connections to state police.

Creator Pizzolatto will continue to serve as showrunner while Jeremy Saulnier - director of films such as Green Room and Blue Ruin - will oversee directing duties, following in the footsteps of Cary Joji Fukunaga and Justin Lin.

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