After a two and a half year absence, True Detective returned to HBO this past Sunday, although it wasn’t perhaps as triumphant a return as the cable network would have hoped for, with the two-part premiere setting a series low in terms of ratings.
The back-to-back episodes were watched by 1.44 million viewers at 9pm and 1.19 million viewers at 10pm in Live+Same Day numbers, down from the 3.2 million and 4.3 million viewers of the season two premiere in June 2015. This increased to 2.3 million viewers when taking into account streaming figures from HBO Now and HBO Go.
Despite this modest start, creator Nic Pizzolatto has revealed to Entertainment Weekly that already has an idea of where the anthology series will go should HBO decide to order a fourth season:
“Yeah, and it’s wild,” said Pizzolatto. “It’s really, really wild. Where do you even go after this [season]? I just had a lead character who’s 35, 45 and 70 all at the same time and this mystery that has to reach false resolutions and keep going into the future without cheating the audience and all these complicated structural elements. But I have an idea that’s kind of crazy. I think it needs to percolate for a while. I was looking to do another series, maybe a movie, in the meantime, but yeah. I have an idea…”
What did you make of the True Detective season three premiere? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on social media…
