VIDEO: Mahershala Ali’s Determined to Solve a Soul-Crushing Case in Gritty New ‘True Detective’ Season 3 Trailer

HBO has unleashed another trailer for Season 3 of its award-winning anthology cop drama “True Detective.”

Set in the Ozarks over the span of several decades, the upcoming batch of episodes follows a state police officer (played by Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali) who catches a brutal case involving missing children. “Before you ever knew me, I wasn’t scared much. I wasn’t a fearful man,” Ali’s Detective Wayne Hays says in the new trailer (above) over foreboding images of foggy mountain ranges, dark woods, and children at play. “Those kids. My kids. My wife. My whole brain’s a bunch of missing pieces.”

“Mr. Hays, have you sat back over the last two decades and thought about the sheer number of fatalities surrounding this case,” a woman asks him in an on camera interview. “What happened?”

No answer is given, but the macabre case has clearly taken a toll on Hays, his partner Detective Roland West (Stephen Dorff), and Amelia (Carmen Ejogo), a schoolteacher with a connection to the missing children. The trailer cuts back and forth between grave shots of the aging, forlorn detectives and explosive action which includes guns, beatings, chases, ransom notes, taped up perps in the trunks of car, and what appears to be a homemade landmine.

“True Detective” Season 3 boasts the return of series creator Nic Pizzolatto, who penned Season 1 of the series, which helped Stern Show veterans Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson both score Emmy nominations. McConaughey even opened up about starring on the show during a 2017. Check out more of the interview here with Howard here.

“True Detective” Season 3 debuts Sunday, Jan. 13 at 9 p.m. on HBO. Watch the official trailer (above).