When Matthew McConaughey signed on for “True Detective,” the actor thought it would be a one-time deal and that’s it. “That was always how I saw it. One season, eight episodes, a finite beginning, middle and end, goodbye, look forward to watching it,” he told Deadline this week in an Emmy-related conversation. “If HBO had wanted an option on me for a season two or three, I wouldn’t have done it. I wouldn’t have walked into something where they could say, ‘We’ve got you for the next three years’.”
OK, so upfront, McConaughey knew what he was getting into and what he wanted. But not after having seen the show, Big Mac’s changing his tune ever so slightly.”I liked ‘True Detective,’ the whole series and the experience of making it, so much that I’d be open to doing another one now. At the time, I was looking at six months and not beyond that.”
HBO and Nic Pizzolatto are you listening? Of course this is music to fans’ ears, but will it happen at all and any time soon? Pizzolatto’s still working on season two which has a new setting and new characters – the idea for every season of the show. Of course hearing that McConaughey would be open to the show is an interesting idea, but runs counter to the whole notion of exploring different “psychospheres” through different locales and detectives.
I wouldn’t bet on this happening unless the show takes a nose dive in ratings and they need McConaughey’s character for season three, but that’s a long way off so I wouldn’t get too excited, the show’s doing fine as it is and will presumably intrigue again in its second season. Jessica Chastain was reportedly offered the lead female part in season two, but she quickly snuffed out those rumors before they could barely smolder (the second season trio of detectives is apparently being modeled after Chastain, Christian Bale and Joaquin Phoenix, actors they’ll never bag).
Meanwhile, in other television news, Bryan Cranston has cheekily suggested that maybe Walter White isn’t dead and outlets have jumped all over that. It’s clear that Cranston is joking around, but even if he’s not, “Breaking Bad” creator Vince Gilligan didn’t do a massive press tour talking about Walter White’s death and partial redemption just so people would watch his lips move. If you bet that farm on that one ever happening, you deserve to lose everything.
