It hasn’t been a particularly successful couple of years for HBO. They’ve lost a number of high profile dramas from big names like David Fincher and Steve McQueen, Vinyl was met with a very tepid response, and True Detective season two ended up being widely ridiculed and criticised rather than met with the same acclaim and awards attention as the first.

Now, it seems like that series may have been scrapped altogether, because despite HBO offering creator and writer Nic Pizzolatto a team of writers to work with, the option of a new showrunner to take charge, or even the chance to once again tackle a True Detective story by himself, he’s now setting his sights on a new drama rather than bringing this show back.

Despite the fact that True Detective could take on many forms, it’s easy to appreciate why Pizzolatto is reluctant to return to that world. Following the first season seems almost impossible, and he likely isn’t too keen on facing the same sort of scrutiny and criticism as he did with the second; something entirely new obviously allows him to move past that.

Whether or not this means we’ll never see a third season of True Detective is unclear, though it’s obviously not happening any time soon. As a result, we’re just going to have to save our casting suggestions for which actors should be paired up for season three for a later date, but here’s hoping the show’s creator at least considers returning to it at some stage.