Mahershala Ali May Take on True Detective -- but Who Else Will Join?

Here are a couple of pieces of potentially surprising news for you: 1) True Detective Season 3 is still possibly happening at HBO; and 2) Oscar winner Mahershala Ali may lead the cast.

There are a lot of caveats there, but that's because all of this is far from a done deal... Veteran showrunner David Milch (Deadwood) has teamed up with True D creator Nic Pizzolatto to figure out how to tackle a third season of the anthology series. A concept is there, and work has begun on scripts -- but as of March, that's all we knew about the show.

Now, Ali has begun early talks to join Season 3 according to Variety, which certainly means there's been some forward movement with the project.

Fans may question if there should be forward movement at all, mind you. The first season was a resounding success, teaming Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey together in a pseudo-mystical backwoods mystery that rejuvenated the careers of both actors. Season 2 was... A mixed bag, starring an expanded ensemble including Rachel McAdams, Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn and Taylor Kitsch in an LA based mystery that felt more pretentious, than transcendent. Where the first season gave viewers the perfect onscreen pair, Season 2's ensemble was a bit of a head scratcher.

So for Season 3, it's vitally important that True Detective gets back to the core of what works about the show. That's not just the mystery, though the first season's Yellow King was an engrossing "villain" -- despite turning out to not be the mystical entity fans had speculated, and in fact something far weirder and simultaneously more mundane.

No, it's the cast. You need actors paired with Ali that just make sense. You could go the Luke Cage route and reteam Ali with Alfre Woodard, as their sibling chemistry was so electric on that show. Or perhaps True Detective could turn into a Moonlight semi-sequel, because why not? But we've got a much, much better idea: the acting category winners from this past year's Oscars.

Look at that picture! It's got all the ingredients of a perfect True Detective season: pair Ali with Emma Stone's rookie detective; throw in hard-as-nails, corrupt and conflicted chief of police Viola Davis, who just happens to be Stone's adoptive mother; and for your skeeze-ball gross villain, you've got Casey Affleck. He doesn't even have to shave!

Come on, Pizzolatto and Milch: time to make flowers and get this thing into high gear.

You can stream past episodes of True Detective on HBO Go.