The reception to season two of True Detective wasn’t great, hence why the fate of a third batch of episodes now seems to be up in the air. Despite that, HBO understandably wants to keep creator and writer Nic Pizzolatto close, and it appears as if his next project will be quite a bit different as he looks to team up with Robert Downey Jr. for a new television series.

Pizzolatto will write and Downey Jr. will star and executive produce in what Variety believes may be a project based on the actor’s long delayed reboot of Perry Mason. That’s been in the works as a film for years now, but doesn’t ever seemed to have gained much steam.

Other than a few appearances in Ally McBeal before he became one of the highest grossing actors in history by playing Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this series would mark Downey Jr.’s first real stint on the small screen. That alone makes this very exciting.

It was the poor critical and commercial response to The Judge which seemingly put the breaks on the Perry Mason movie, and Downey Jr. (along with his wife and producing partner Susan) now seem to feel like it would be better suited for television. That’s worked out well for many projects once destined for the big screen. Mr. Robot for example is proof of that.

It’s going to be very interesting seeing how this one develops, but let’s be honest…it would be pretty cool if this actually ended up being a third season of True Detective starring RDJ!