Anyone following along with this season of True Detective will understand why actor Michael Rooker’s involvement in the series was kept under wraps until Episode 6 aired. But eagle-eyed viewers paying close attention on Sunday night caught a glimpse of Rooker in a photograph—and HBO can now confirm that the Walking Dead and Guardians of the Galaxy star has been cast as Hoyt, the shadowy billionaire owner of Hoyt Foods in the third season of True Detective.

The idea of Hoyt—who still doesn’t have a first name in the context of the show—was introduced early on in the series; he’s a big-game-hunting businessman whose influence over the rural Arkansas residents populating the show cannot be overstated. It’s not unreasonable to draw a connection between Nic Pizzolatto’s fictional chicken tycoon and the real-life Tyson Foods C.E.O. Don Tyson, who also wielded massive influence in the state during the 80s and 90s. The ending of Episode 6 connected the Hoyt family directly to the disappearance of young Julie Purcell by revealing that the “Pink Room” she was held in was located in a creepily soundproofed underground section of the Hoyt family manor.

Rooker himself also appeared in Episode 6 in a photo on the wall of Hoyt head of security Harris James’s office. Though the episode itself doesn’t call out Hoyt’s identity here, his identity is clear given context clues.

In Episode 5, Mahershala Ali’s Wayne says that Hoyt paid him a significant visit in 1990—a scene we have yet to see. If Hoyt is indeed the figure pulling a lot of the strings on the murders and disappearances this season of True Detective, then it’s understandable why Rooker’s involvement would be kept under wraps, so as to not reveal Hoyt’s importance too early on in the season. Rooker is fairly well known for playing menacing characters, despite his Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 redemption. Which is not to guarantee that his turn as Hoyt will be pure villainy—but it’s hard to imagine otherwise at this point.

Why is True Detective dishing up so many big answers so early in the season? My guess would be to get the “whodunit?” of it all out of the way before the finale—which, given Rooker’s involvement and Ali’s season-long excellence, is likely to be a juicy dive into moral complexity and the chilling reach and influence of corporations.