'True Detective' Season 3 Trailer: Mahershala Ali Goes Back To The Beginning Of A Deadly Case

The latest trailer for True Detective season 3 takes star Mahershala Ali back through his past, and takes us back to the mood and tone of the acclaimed first season of the HBO anthology show. The newest season of True Detective follows Ali's Detective Wayne Hays, who investigates the disappearance of two children in the heart of the Ozarks, and continues to be dogged by the grisly case for decades.

We get an even better idea of what will take place in True Detective season 3 with this latest trailer, which charts Detective Wayne Hays' (Ali) grappling with an unsolved case that has plagued his consciousness for decades. We see the aged Hays in front of a camera being asked about the case, and follow True Detective's typical flashback structure to see the very beginning of it all. More prominent in this trailer is Carmen Ejogo's Amelia Reardon, an Arkansas schoolteacher who marries Hays and writes a book about the notorious case — much to his chagrin. This is juicy character-driven stuff in the trailer, which thankfully doesn't give too much away about the case itself.

Ali plays Wayne Hays, a state police detective from Northwest Arkansas, while Stephen Dorff (Immortals) plays his partner, Roland West, an Arkansas State Investigator whose career has been shaped by a baffling crime Arkansas. Rounding out the cast is Ray Fisher (Justice League) as Wayne's son and Ejogo. The season also stars John Charles Dickson and Sarah Gadon.

Pizzolatto is directing a large chunk of the season, with Green Room director Jeremy Saulnier and Daniel Sackheim directing other episodes. Pizzolatto also wrote the entire season, save for episode 4, which he co-wrote with Deadwood creator David Milch.

Here's the official synopsis for True Detective season 3:

From Creator and Executive Producer Nic Pizzolatto and starring Academy Award Winner Mahershala Ali, Stephen Dorff, Carmen Ejogo; the third season sees detectives investigating a grisly crime involving two missing children in the heart of the Ozarks.

True Detective returns on January 13, 2019 on HBO.