The highly-anticipated third season of "True Detective" may not be happening anytime soon, despite HBO's assurance that the series is not canceled.

During HBO's press presentation at the Television Critics Association summer tour in August, the cable network's new programming head, Casey Bloys, mentioned that the crime drama anthology is still alive despite the not-so-pleasant critical response for the show's second season.

"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," Bloys stated during the press panel as reported by Entertainment Weekly.

Bloys also mentioned that he is considering to get another person write the script for the show's upcoming season while series creator Nic Pizzolatto continues to supervise the production instead of writing it on his own.

Speculations about the possible cancellation of "True Detective" spurred after season 2 received a lukewarm reception from the fans after its critically acclaimed first season.

Former HBO programming president Michael Lombardo blamed himself in an interview with KPCC's The Frame for the reason why season 2 did not turn out to be as good as the first one. According to Lombardo, he forced Pizzolatto to come up with the screenplay for the second season in just a short span of time.

"Well, you know what? I set him up. To deliver, in a very short time frame, something that became very challenging to deliver," the former network head said. "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."

However, reports claim that Pizzolatto's new project on HBO could be causing the long delay in the development of "True Detective" season 3.

According to reports, Pizzolatto had been tapped to write the screenplay for the network's new drama "Perry Mason," inspired by the hit CBS legal drama series with the same name that ran from 1957 to 1966. The show will reportedly star Robert Downey Jr.

Updates about the production of "True Detective" season 3 are expected to be released soon.