True Detective Creator Nic Pizzolatto Can’t See The Show Lasting Past Three Seasons

The Emmy race this year is tighter than any in recent memory, and that’s in large part thanks to HBO’s True Detective, a jaw-droppingly ambitious and immaculately acted detective series which came out of nowhere to threaten awards heavyweights like Breaking Bad, Mad Men and Game of Thrones. Now that the first season is done, and stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson have gone back to their Hollywood movie careers, all eyes are on show creator Nic Pizzolatto until he unveils the cast of the second season. However, Pizzolatto recently dropped a major bombshell on fans during an interview with the Calgary Herald, when he said that he doesn’t have plans for True Detective to go for more than three seasons.

The show creator’s comments came out of the Banff World Media Festival, which he attended to talk about his work so far on True Detective. When asked about the series’ long-term future, Pizzolatto stated:

“I can’t imagine I would do this more than three years. I mean, I’d like to have a regular TV show. We’ll have some fixed sets, regular actors and I could bring in people to help and I don’t have to be there every second. It’d be great.”

The problem with True Detective, though, is the amount of work that Pizzolatto will have to do year after year to set up new characters, stories and settings. He explained:

“Every season, I’m essentially creating a brand new TV show. It can’t have any growing pains like a regular first season. If it works it has to work right out of the box. That’s incredibly exhausting. I mean, the job is exhausting to begin with, but it’s doubly exhausting and I’m writing every episode.”

It’s certainly understandable that Pizzolatto doesn’t want to lock himself in for what must be an extremely draining job for years into the future, though news that True Detective may only be around another two years is sure to sadden fans. On the flip side, however, Pizzolatto’s comments just add weight to the sentiment that fans should savor every second of True Detective that the showrunner is willing to give them. And if the second and third seasons of the series are anywhere near as compelling as the first, that definitely won’t be a problem.