An HBO executive has taken the blame for what many fans felt was a poor second season of True Detective.
The show returned for a second run in 2015 with a whole new cast and storyline. Writer Nic Pizzolatto returned for a series which featured Colin Farrel, Rachel McAdams and Vince Vaughn. However, many fans were left dissapointed and felt it paled in comparison to its 2014 debut with Matthew McConaughey.
READ MORE: True Detective – Is Season Two Really As Terrible As Everyone’s Making Out?
In a new interview with HBO’s President of Programming, Michael Lombardo told The Frame that while he doesn’t necessarily agree that season two was bad, he would take the blame if viewers did.
“When we tell somebody to hit an air date as opposed to allowing the writing to find its own natural resting place, when it’s ready, when it’s baked—we’ve failed,” Lombardo admitted. “And I think in this particular case, the first season of True Detective was something that Nic Pizzolatto had been thinking about, gestating, for a long period of time. He’s a soulful writer. And I take the blame. I became too much of a network executive at that point. We had huge success. ‘Gee, I’d love to repeat that next year.'”
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Suggesting that he rushed Pizzolatto, Lombardo continued: “You know what? I set him up. To deliver, in a very short time frame, something that became very challenging to deliver. That’s not what that show is. He had to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. Find his muse. And so I think that’s what I learned from it. Don’t do that anymore.”
HBO has not yet announced whether it will renew Pizzolato’s show for a third season.