NIC pizzolatto, creator of the critically acclaimed anthology crime series, True Detective, talks to Indulge about the third season, which takes place in the Ozarks region over three separate time periods, as partner detectives investigate a macabre crime involving two missing children.
What led to your change of mind when Mahershala came to you, and asked you to consider him for the lead role?
It was a short conversation, as I knew I’d be really lucky to have an artist of that calibre playing this role. I said I love the idea. My only concern was about the times we live in. This is a story about time, memory, and love, and I wouldn’t want those themes to be subsumed, as suddenly, we’re telling a story about race or something else. I don’t think I’m the right person to be doing that, anyway.
What Mahershala liked about the role was that this was a fully formed man and human being, and often actors of colour, and the role they’re up for, is defined by race. He says, if I’m playing detective, I’m playing the black detective.
At the same time though, I didn’t want to ignore race, and pretend it didn’t exist. It was more in the fabric of the world. So again, it was a brief conversation, and I said, let me rewrite the first three episodes and see if this would work. Then I realised it works just fine.
Seeing how Mahershala played the character, I thought it was a force multiplier to have an actor of colour in that role. He’s always on the periphery of things a bit; a little looked over, but that also gives him the opportunity to be a much closer observer.
The sort of existential isolation we always associate with the classic idea of the detective, you know like, along these mean streets a man walks alone... That concretised in an experiential way for the character. I was incredibly grateful that he wanted the role, and it helped open up my work... I would have been shy, wondering, was that my story to tell? But I’m the only writer on Earth qualified to write about Wayne Hays, because he’s a figment of my imagination.
When was the last time that you guys were completely wrong about viewer reactions to what you put on screen?
I don’t know if wrong is necessarily the word, but flummoxed might be a bit better. I tried to be as transparent as possible with the narrative. Because of the two later timelines and the way they all interact, it’s telling you what’s going to happen before it happens.