While much of the talk surrounding the new season of True Detective has swirled around who might be cast, many fans have also wondered about the swirling abyss, and how much they can expect to see next year of returning cast favorite, the pitiless void of the human condition. According to HBO’s Michael Lombardo, the darkness will return, to be touched and subsequently touch you back and so on, but its role has been somewhat reduced.


“It’s still dark,” Lombardo said at the Guardian International Television Festival, presumably to a fan clutching an 8 x 10 of the endless obsidian night. “Nic [Pizzolatto, creator] explores the darkness in people’s souls…. It’s not as dark, but it’s not a light ride. Nic likes looking into the crevices of the soul.” And indeed, no matter how Pizzolatto likes to probe them, crevices can contain only so much darkness—particularly in the California sunshine.

Thanks to this free time in its shooting schedule, the darkness of the human soul can also be seen just about every-fucking-where right now.