After a rough second season, True Detective faced an uphill battle in plotting its third go-round. The decision to cast Mahershala Ali, however, was an encouraging sign. Fresh off his Oscar-winning turn in Moonlight, the actor is one of Hollywoods brightest stars; if anyone can get True Detective back on track, Ali seems like a safe bet. But theres likely a parallel universe somewhere in which Ali never got this role—because originally, it was written for a white actor.
Speaking with BlacKkKlansman star John David Washington for a Variety Actors on Actors feature, Ali noted that before he booked his roles in True Detective and Green Book, he had been feeling grateful for his work, but unfulfilled by it. “I went home wanting to work some more,” Ali said. “I wasnt tired when I went home.” The offers for Green Book and True Detective came within days of each other, he said, but he had to clear one hurdle in locking down that True Detective part. The lead role was written as white, with a black cop in a supporting role. Ali made the case to show-runner Nic Pizzolatto that the season would not only work with a black man in the lead role—but that it would would actually be improved by that casting.
“I read the scripts,” Ali said. “I was blown away. I got to read the first four, and I could have played that second lead, the supporting character. But in my mind I was like, Ive done this my entire career. Ive never done that. And Im 40 at that time. And if it dont happen now, it really may not happen.”
“My grandfather was a state-police officer, and these are two state-police officers,” Ali continued. “So I went on my phone; Im hitting up some cousins and whatnot. And they send me some pictures of my grandfather in the state-police officer uniform. So I texted them to Nic Pizzolatto, the show-runner. And I was like, See, we existed in this space in the 60s, in the 70s, [as] state-police officers. This is in Arkansas.”
Ali recalled telling Pizzolatto, “I think the story would improve in this case if this lead character is black. We dont have to beat them over the head with the race element, but lets write it.”
“Im encouraging him to think of it from the standpoint of how its experienced,” Ali said. “Racism is not experienced as the n-word all the time, right? Its more like—he wouldnt even look me in the eye. Or like I said, thank you—he just brushed me off. And so I came back to [Nic], and I was like, I want to play that part. And he thought about it a couple of days, got back to me, and he was like, Yo, lets do this. Im down.”
The new season will cover several decades, and will be set in the Ozark in Arkansas. Alis character, state-police detective Wayne Hays, will investigate a case involving two missing children. Stephen Dorff will play Roland West, an Arkansas state investigator leading the investigation with Hays. The cast also includes Scoot McNairy and Mamie Gummer, among others. Most details about the new season are naturally being kept secret, but from the trailer, one thing is certain: Alis performance will be as captivating as ever.
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Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Laura BradleyLaura Bradley is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com.
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