If True Detective was Nic Pizzolatto’s debut album, then he had three bona-fide number one hits: Matthew Mcconaughey, Woody Harrelson and Cary Fukunaga. None will return for the second season as the show stays strong to its anthology format. 

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Pizzolatto’s second album is going to be the most difficult of his career. Rustin Cohle and Martin Hart’s investigation, spanning 17 years, delved into our leading characters as much, if not more than, the intricate plot, which centred on a deep-seated paedophile ring in America’s Deep South.

If season one proved one thing, it’s that Pizzolatto can write; he had eight episodes to paint fully realised characters and a sustainable conflict with 17 years of fluidity. And he did so while giving his lead the licence to explore the more existential struggles in life. These were three dimensional, harrowing time for Cohle. And we loved every minute of it. 

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But while his distinctive writing talents will obviously (hopefully) return, we already know that he three amigos won’t return. As good as Pizzolatto is, there’s always the worry that his cast and crew won’t be able to match the exploits of season 1.

Take Fukunaga, for instance. “When you shoot episodically you stop and you prep the next episode, but we didn't have scripts for the last 2 episodes when we started and we didn’t have schedules or anything, we knew basically when we would have it finished by, but that was it. Everyone was exhausted… bit definitely took its toll on everyone involved. It’s an impossible amount [to shoot],” he explained to Playlist. Will he be able to get another director with the sheer stamina of Fukunaga?

He might. And Fukunaga is staying on to exec produce. We’re just hoping all the pieces – the huge actors promised and a continuation of the sheer quality that made season 1 great – fall into place for another 8 episodes of Pizzolatto magic in season 2.