True Detective casts Carmen Ejogo for the crime anthology’s next installment. The actress will appear alongside Mahershala Ali who was previously tapped to play season 3’s lead as Arkansas state police detective Wayne Hays who is tasked to investigate the disappearance of two children back in the ’80s.

HBO has been extra careful with the franchise, taking into consideration whatever they have learned during the show’s second installment and using them to better prepare for what comes next. Following its blockbuster debut outing in 2014 that put seasoned stars, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, as leads Detective Rust Cohle and Detective Marty Hart at the forefront, the series suffered from major plot weakness in its subsequent installment. So much so, that most fans assumed that this would spell the end for the franchise. Still, it thrived until a major breakthrough arrived a couple of months ago when the Academy Award-winning actor was cast as season 3’s protagonist. Now, it appears that things are progressing quietly for True Detective season 3 tapping the services of Ejogo who will play a pivotal character in solving the crime at hand for Ali’s character.

The casting news has come courtesy of TV Line. The report also details how Ejogo will factor in the anthology’s latest narrative that will span three time periods. As it turns out, the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them actress will play a schoolteacher named Amelia Reardon who is connected to the two kids that went missing decades ago. Whether she is the possible culprit or nothing more than just a piece of the puzzle that Wayne needs remains to be seen.

During its dark period, HBO continued to support development for the supposed third season of True Detective, with former programming head Michael Lombardo even taking the blame for the lackluster performance in the sophomore season. After the overwhelming response that the first iteration of True Detective both critically and ratings-wise, the cable channel rushed its second season to capitalize on people’s interest. Unfortunately, while the Colin Farrell–Rachel McAdams story was decent enough, many thought that it did not live up to its predecessor’s performance in terms of viewership and narrative.

With ample time to regroup and come up with a solid story that hopefully would rival that of its first season, fans’ are once again starting to get curious for what lies ahead for True Detective season 3. Despite receiving harsh backlash for how season 2 panned out, the show’s creator Creator Nic Pizzolatto is back to write the new installment. He is also set to share directing duties with Green Room director Jeremy Saulnier.

No official premiere date has been set for True Detective season 3