HBO open to 'True Detective' season 3, if Nic Pizzolatto is interested

A lot of people aren't afraid to call True Detective's second season a disappointment, and many of those who are supportive still admit it's a step down from the anthology's series' first run. Of course, there are those wild about what they've seen, but they're certainly less vocal than those who disapprove of what we've gotten this year and, with ratings declining each week, some even doubt the Emmy-winning series' chances for a three round. Well, HBO's president of programming Michael Lombardo is singing a different tune.

Talking to journalists at TCA on Thursday, the program creator told fans he's aware not everyone is digging what showrunner Nic Pizzolatto's dished this season, but he's "enormously proud" of what he's brought to the table with this eight-episode string. "I think he takes a big swing and all I can tell you is that I think that this (season's) end is as satisfying as any show I've seen," he continued as IGN covered. "We're getting 12 million viewers an episode."

With those numbers, regardless of some declines, they're bringing in a healthy audience and, even if some people aren't expected to come back, he's extending an offer for Pizzolatto to return under the HBO umbrella.

"If [Nic] wanted to do another season, I told him our door is open," he said. "I'd love to do another season with him. I think he's a spectacular writer."

So the ball is in the showrunner's hands now, which is certainly a great position for a creative individual in the entertainment business to be in. And it would seem having him get an unrestricted proposition means he doesn't have to fall into this third season immediately. He can come into it at his own speed, much like Larry David does with his show on the paid cable station, Curb Your Enthusiasm. Based on how rushed and sloppy things are handled at times narratively this year, this is definitely in everyone's best interest, either by the camera or on the couch.

"I'm not in the business, and have never been in the business, of micromanaging the process," he stated. "In the sense of telling a writer these are they beats they need to follow or telling them how to write a story... And I've already called him and said "Nic, if you want to do a season three, let's start talking.' I'm not calling him to say let's talk about season three and here are some rules you need to follow."

"I think the show works," he also said. The executive then stressed on how people need to watch the entire season, as he has at this point and time, and then decide what they think of this block of episodes on the whole. He considers the writer "bold" in ways he describes as "only positive," applauding how he takes risks in laying out the story and pacing, and believes those challenges pay off in the long run.

"I think what he's doing on True Detective is so much bolder and braver and, for me, satisfying than what I see in film that I'd be happy to be in business with him of a long time," were his closing thoughts on the matter.

So an open invitation isn't a guarantee for more to come, but it's definitely not a death call. Regardless of whether or not it returns, fans of the show's preceding freshmen series, Ballers and The Brink, can rest assured knowing both are confirmed for additional seasons.

Image courtesy of HBO