--- ---  # Oscar Winner Mahershala Ali Confirmed to Star in _True Detective_ Season 3 by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Jul 26, 2017 11:18 PM UTC  HOLLYWOOD, CA - FEBRUARY 26: Actor Mahershala Ali poses in the press room at the 89th annual Academy Awards HOLLYWOOD, CA - FEBRUARY 26: Actor Mahershala Ali poses in the press room at the 89th annual Academy AwardsJason LaVeris—FilmMagic by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Jul 26, 2017 11:18 PM UTC _Moonlight_ actor [Mahershala Ali](http://time.com/4823874/mahershala-ali-on-racial-profiling/) could be making his way back to television. The Academy Award-winner closed a deal to star in [HBO](http://time.com/4868172/confederate-hbo-game-of-thrones-slavery/)‘s third season of the crime anthology series [_True Detective_](http://time.com/4380220/matthew-mcconaughey-true-detective-season-3/), the network’s president of programming, Casey Bloys, said at a Television Critics Associations’ presentation Wednesday, [according to _Entertainment Weekly._](http://ew.com/tv/2017/07/26/true-detective-mahershala-ali-season-3/) The third season of the Emmy-nominated show is not completely guaranteed, however. HBO is still deciding whether or not to officially greenlight new episodes, but Bloys sounded optimistic about the series’ future. “They are terrific,” Bloys said of the five finished scripts he’s read thus far. “We are talking to directors, and when we have a director we want to hire, it will be a go.” _True Detective_ creator Nic Pizzolatto has been working with HBO writer and producer David Milch to workshop season three, [Deadline reports](http://deadline.com/2017/07/true-detective-mahershala-ali-cast-season-3-hbo-1202136729/). While the most recent season featuring Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and Vince Vaughn was panned by critics, the first season was widely acclaimed and garnered a slew of awards and nominations. Director Cary Fukunaga won an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. Along with his supporting role in _Moonlight_, Ali has earned praise for his work in Netflix’s _House of Cards_ and superhero drama _Luke Cage_. True Detective Season 3: Mahershala Ali Confirmed to Star ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4875804/moonlight-mahershala-ali-true-detective-season-3/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4875804/moonlight-mahershala-ali-true-detective-season-3/"},"headline":"Oscar Winner Mahershala Ali Confirmed to Star in True Detective Season 3","datePublished":"2017-07-26T23:18:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:44:59.188Z","description":"Now it's just a matter of the show actually being greenlit","url":"https://time.com/4875804/moonlight-mahershala-ali-true-detective-season-3/","keywords":["Television","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta41b1289aea813e0/6988be73bc6cfc7b173e0843/mahershala-ali-fatherhood.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta41b1289aea813e0/6988be73bc6cfc7b173e0843/mahershala-ali-fatherhood.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"89th Annual Academy Awards - Press Room","caption":"89th Annual Academy Awards - Press Room","creditText":"Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4875804/moonlight-mahershala-ali-true-detective-season-3/","name":"Oscar Winner Mahershala Ali Confirmed to Star in True Detective Season 3"}}]}] ```