Michelle-MonaghanIn the past decade, HBO have risen to become one of the most original and innovative networks developing original programming for television, and we’re always looking forward to what they’re bringing us next. One of the most promising things we heard about last year is True Detective.

Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey are on board in the leading male roles, and now TV Line are reporting that the ever-brilliant (and criminally under-recognised) Michelle Monaghan has landed the female lead.

True Detective is described as,

“An elevated serial narrative with multiple perspectives and time frames. It centers on two detectives, Rust Cohle (McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Harrelson), whose lives collide and entwine during a seventeen-year hunt for a serial killer in Louisiana. The investigation of a bizarre murder in 1995 is framed and interlaced with testimony from the detectives in 2012, when the case has been reopened.”

Monaghan will be playing the part of Harrelson’s wife, Maggie Hart, who makes a difficult decision that has long-reaching and devastating consequences.

Cary Fukanaga (Jane Eyre, Sin Nombre) has come on board, and will be directing all eight of the first season’s episodes, with award-winning novelist Nic Pizzolatto, whose small screen credits include The Killing, penning the script.

The intent is for each season to wrap up the mystery by its end, and begin a new mystery with new characters at the start of the successive season, should the programme be a hit. And given the cast and talents involved so far, I’d say there’s a very good chance of that happening.

Monaghan has had a great few years, starring opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in Source Code back in 2011, and reuniting with Robert Downey, Jr. for Due Date in 2010, following Shane Black’s immense Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. She has a slew of projects in various stages of production, and we can’t wait to see more of her in the years to come, especially in a recurring role on a network like HBO.

No word yet on when we can expect True Detective to air, but here’s to hoping that it will be in early 2014, or maybe even towards the end of this year, if we’re lucky. Smart money says this is going to be a gripping thriller, and one hell of a ride. More as we get it.