Green Room dictor Jeremy Saulnier has pulled out of directing duties on the over due third season of HBO’s “True Detective”.
Saulnier was hired as director and executive producer and was set to split helming duties with show creator Nic Pizzolatto (making his debut) across the entire season run. However, Saulnier has now left the project after completing the first two episodes.
Instead, TV director Daniel Sackheim (The American) is taking over to helm the remainder of Saulnier’s episodes while Pizzolatto is still onboard to do his. The season’s episode count is unknown at this time.
In an official statement, an HBO spokesperson confirmed Saulnier’s departure, his completion of the first two episodes and a reason for his exit being due to “scheduling issues”. The hiring of Saulnier was one of the season’s biggest ‘gets’ and took some time to lock down so his exit is a surprise and the reasoning an obvious flimsy excuse.
Cary Fukunaga directed all eight episodes of the show’s first season with a rotating roster of directors helming the second (the most notable being Justin Lin).
Mahershala Ali, Carmen Ejogo, Stephen Dorff, Scoot McNairy, Mamie Gummer and Ray Fisher star in the season which is set across several decades in the Ozarks. It’s expected to debut in 2019.
