'True Detective' season 3 news, rumors: Still no word concerning series' renewal, but could HBO's new show be third installment in disguise?

Does HBO intend to resurrect "True Detective" for its third season? That question hounds viewers who stood by the franchise from day one and stayed on even through its rough second season. These fans want to give the crime anthology a chance to redeem itself, but will the network be up for that?

HBO has admitted that they messed up with "True Detective" season 2, implying that unlike the first season, which starred Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, the second season was half-cooked. According to Michael Lombardo, then head of programming for HBO, they somehow pressured creator Nic Pizzolatto to write the story for season 2 in less time than it took to write season 1 and insisted that it be of the same caliber as the maiden season.

The network has since expressed that should "True Detective" season 3 ever happen, it has to be retooled significantly. Overhauling the show shouldn't be too hard, with Pizzolatto on-board HBO until 2018, as Variety noted. Still, the final word concerning its renewal would have to come from the network itself.

In related news, there are theories that HBO's latest limited series, "The Night Of," which premiered last weekend, is actually "True Detective" season 3 in disguise. A recent write-up on GQ pointed out the parallelisms between the two shows and implied that the storyline for both follows the same dark, murky path coupled with "moody, opaque contemplation." Whether that theory is given a definitive conclusion remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, McConaughey, who played Rustin Cohle in the first installment of "True Detective," has expressed his interest in joining the series again if the third season pushes through. Apparently, he enjoyed filming its first season and missed the character he played, which is why he wants to give it another go.

He's not the only one who seemed to have hinted at the possibility of working on "True Detective" season 3, and if speculations are true, the third season of HBO's crime anthology might be packed with a solid cast. Pizzolatto just needs to produce a script that would pull the series out of the gutter.

In the meantime, fans of "True Detective" season 3 should stay tuned for updates regarding the show.