"True Detective" season 3 is on HBO's cards after all. The network has finally addressed the longstanding question on whether or not the crime drama anthology will be back on the small screen in the future.

HBO head of programming Casey Bloys spoke about the status of the show during the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, breaking the network's year-long silence, which started after the second season aired.

"It's not dead," Bloys emphasized at the event, as quoted by Deadline. "We are hoping for a third season. It's a very valuable franchise for us," he admitted.

He also revealed that "True Detective" creator Nic Pizzolatto and HBO are both open for season 3, although the former might end up supervising the series instead, with someone else tasked with the writing.

Bloys said that Pizzolatto, who inked a massive deal with HBO up to 2018, is busy with other projects and might not have time to write "True Detective" season 3.

From the looks of it, there are no specific plans in place yet for the show's return, but there's immense expectation that it will be better than the second season, which hugely flopped.

This hope partly comes from former head of programming Michael Lombardo recognizing his mistake of rushing Pizzolatto to put out a script for the sophomore run that resulted to its poor reception.

"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," Lombardo told The Frame.

"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," he went on to say.

It's tricky to figure out what to expect of "True Detective" season 3. However, Matthew McConaughey has already suggested he is willing to reprise his role in season 1 as Rustin Cohle.

That would mean "True Detective" losing its anthology format. Right now, fans will have to wait for what HBO comes up with for "True Detective" season 3.