Depending on who you ask, Nic Pizzolatto is either a creative genius, an egomaniac who is difficult to collaborate with, or he falls somewhere in the middle. Certainly, as we saw with the first season of "True Detective," he knows how to weave a rich, compelling, and even moving piece of genre material. But we saw what happened in season two when his reach went further than his grasp, and his ambition failed to match the lofty aims of the story. Nonetheless, HBO still believes in his talent.
The network has signed Pizzolatto to a new deal through 2018, with a number of new projects under consideration, but the question remains: what about "True Detective"? Apparently, HBO is pressing Pizzolatto for an answer and giving him a number of options to choose from including: getting him a staff of writers, getting a show-runner to come in, or letting him tackle it alone again. Honestly, I think a combo of the first two scenarios would be the best solution, as nothing could benefit Pizzolatto’s penchant for knotty, philosophical, and dense storytelling more than some other perspectives. Whether or not he wants to actually have that remains to be seen.
READ MORE: Wildly Mixed First Reviews Arrive For ‘True Detective’ Season 2
However, even if Pizzolatto figures out how he wants to approach a third season, it’s unlikely that it would arrive next year on HBO, since there don’t seem to be any scripts or casting in place. Thoughts? How do you want to see "True Detective" proceed? Let us know below.
Anyone who labels TD season 2 as garbage was doing so only in relation to the lightning in a bottle quality of season 1 (which had its own flaws, don\’t forget, but didn\’t have to be judged in the context of something than came before it). Season 2 was flawed, sure, and deeply at times, but it was also rich and intriguing, brave at times and eminently watchable. Plenty of great shows experience dips in quality (House of Cards anyone?), without anyone responding with nearly the amount of vitriol hurled at TD. So yes, I\’d love to see a season 3 (and so would all the haters, despite what they say!).
My theory is that, outside of The Producers, nobody makes anything bad on purpose, partially or otherwise.
I have a theory that Season 2 was bad partially on purpose because Pizzolato wanted to see how strong his red state support would be without the boost from critics and blue state "quality TV" followers. He wanted to test the strength of his core following.