With an Oscar win (for “Moonlight”) now behind him, as well as roles in upcoming high-profile studio pictures including “Triple Frontier” and “Alita: Battle Angel,” Mahershala Ali is said to be in negotiations to star in a potential third season of HBO’s critically-acclaimed (season 1 notably) anthology crime drama series “True Detective,” created and written by Nic Pizzolatto.

Even though a 3rd season hasn’t been officially given the greenlight, in July 2016, HBO head of programming Casey Bloys said that there was the possibility of another run at the series, stating: “It is not dead. I talked to Nic about it and both Nic and HBO are open to another season. I don’t think Nic has a take and he’s working on some other projects. We’re open to somebody else writing it and Nic supervising it. It’s a valuable franchise, it’s not dead, we just don’t have a take for a third season yet.”

This came shortly after McConaughey said he would hypothetically be interested in reprising his role as Rust Cohle in a third season. Although no word on whether HBO is actually considering his return.

Talks with Ali are said to be in very early stages, so anything can happen here. Actors are “in talks” for roles constantly, so let’s wait and see how this plays out. But should Ali sign on, it would be an exciting choice and I think many of us will be looking forward to seeing who else will join him in the cast, and who the team behind the camera will be, and what story they’ll tell. I just hope it’s better than season 2.

Ali appeared in 2 of the most talked-about films of the last awards season: “Hidden Figures” and “Moonlight,” for which he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, his first nomination and win. Coming up, he co-stars in the 2017 Sundance break out selection “Roxanne Roxanne.”

He’s repped by WME.