No surprises here, True Detective Season 3 welcomes a new detective and a new crime. And in a similar style to the first season, this season moves between different decades focusing on 1980, 1990 and 2015. The official synopsis released by HBO reads:

“Season 3 of the hit HBO series stars Mahershala Ali (Best Supporting Actor Oscar for ‘Moonlight’) as a retired detective who has been tormented for 35 years by a case involving the disappearance of a 12-year-old boy and his 10-year-old sister in the town of West Finger, Arkansas.”

Read up on Season 1, Season 2 and the upcoming fourth season of True Detective on Sky.com.

The third season of True Detective sees Oscar-winner, Mahershala Ali, in the lead role as Detective Wayne Hays. Main cast members include:

• Mahershala Ali as Detective Wayne Hays
• Stephen Dorff as Detective Roland West
• Carmen Ejogo as Amelia Reardon
• Scoot McNairy as Tom Purcell
• Ray Fisher as Henry Hays

Detective Roland West is an Arkansas State Investigator, who is Hays’ partner during the Purcell investigation. Over the years, West climbs the ranks within the police force before later being persuaded by Hays to reinvestigate the Purcell case. Stephen Dorff is an American actor who rose to fame for his role in Backbeat. Dorff has also appeared in Cecil B. Demented, Somewhere and World Trade Center.

Tom Purcell is the father to Will and Julie, two children who go missing in 1980 and are the subject of an investigation spanning over decades.

Scoot McNairy is an American actor and film producer who is known for his roles Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Narcos: Mexico and Netflix series Godless.

At the time of the original case in 1980, Hays and West send the note for testing and track the note to having been sent from Farmington. They also discover that the Ozark Children’s Outreach has offered a reward for any information that helps in closing the case, leading to vast amounts of incoming calls. Hays questions why the Purcell children would have lied to their parents about where they were going the afternoon they went missing, so the pair go about trying to discover where they actually went.

Hays speaks with Ronnie Boyle who reveals that he didn’t play with the Purcell children that much, despite Tom being under the impression that they spent a few evenings a week together. Hays and West look through the children’s rooms, finding a map and notes hidden in a Hoyt Foods canvas bag - Hoyt Foods being somewhere Lucy used to work.

Hays and West visit the Ozark Children Outreach – a foundation set up by Mr Hoyt to help families that need medical treatment. They learn that they offered the reward as soon as they discovered that Lucy used to work for the company.

The investigation continues, with the park shut down except for search parties. Hays and Amelia search together and he takes the opportunity to invite her over for dinner. During the search, Hays finds some dice on the ground before spotting toys hidden in a bag under some large boulders and blood on a nearby rock. He also spots a house near the site, which the police weren’t aware of as the farm roads aren’t on any maps. Hays and West speak with the man that lives there. He reveals that he’s already spoken with the police, sharing that he often saw the Purcell kids heading into the woods. He also reveals that he saw a car a couple of times, with a black man and white woman inside.

Brett is approached by locals who question what he’s doing around their kids. They attack and threaten him, telling him to stay away from the neighbourhood. Brett is seen heading home and grabbing a large tarpaulin-style bag from his shed.

Back at the Purcell house, Tom and Lucy are shown images of the toys that were found in the woods but neither of them recognise the items. West discloses that the toys were found in the woods with both Julie and Will’s fingerprints on them. Looking through the family photo albums, Hays finds an image of Will at his first communion with his hands positioned the same way his body was found.

In 1990, Dobkins and Jones speak with Lieutenant West about the Purcell case. Amelia offers to see what she can find out from the police, using her book on the Purcell case as a guise to ask questions. The cover works and she’s able to discover that Julie’s fingerprints were only found on the shelves. Back home, Hays is frustrated with Amelia’s excitement about the case and the way in which she’s going about getting information from the officers.

In light of the news about Julie’s fingerprints, West visits a now sober and religious Tom. Tom already knows about the fingerprints and wishes that Lucy, who died a couple of years ago, was alive to know about it. Tom thanks West for his help when he decided to get sober. West asks Hays to meet him at a local bar where he reveals he’s in charge of a new taskforce looking into the reopened case.

In 2015 and following the incident which saw him end up outside the Purcell home, Hays goes for a scan to see if his condition is deteriorating. Hays is convinced that there is a reason why he drove to the home and that it’s got nothing to do with being confused but Henry is concerned.

The interview continues with Elisa asking questions about whether the police were thorough when they interviewed the neighbourhood. Elisa claims that a number of residents were never spoken to, with two having recalled spotting a brown car driving around the neighbourhood and away from the park on the night the children went missing. Elisa notes that none of this was included in official reports from the investigation, suggesting the case was flawed from the beginning. Henry ends the interview for the day.

In his office, Hays listens to his recordings about the brown sedan and hears Amelia speaking to him from the room. In the hallucination Amelia tells Hays to ‘finish it’.

In 1980, Hays and Amelia are in bed – having spent the night together – speaking about their work and their similar belief systems. A press conference is held, attributing responsibility for the murder of Will and kidnap of Julie to Brett Woodard. Lucy is present but walks out early, with Amelia following after her.

In 1990, Hays and West are instructed to begin investigating Tom after the call to the helpline suggested he may have had some involvement. They begin asking questions about the night the children disappeared and it becomes clear that Tom left out many important pieces of information when he first spoke to police back in 1980. Tom’s behaviour during the interview makes Kindt believe he was involved.

Hays and West begin looking into Tom, with his former boss revealing he was often caught drinking on the job. He also reveals that Tom could be homosexual, with West later finding more evidence pointing to this. They head to speak with Harris James, who investigated the backpack in 1980 but now works as the head of security for Hoyt Foods. He confirms that he was involved in processing the scene but had no role with finding the backpack or reporting it.

Amelia continues with her own investigation and speaks to girls who recognise Julie, confirming that she went by ‘Mary Julie’ or ‘Mary July’. Hays and West manage to track down Dan O’Brien and he reveals that Lucy moved in with his family when she was just four years old. But he refuses to give them any information unless they give him $7000, revealing that they’re not the only ones looking for Julie. At the police station, Tom listens in to officers speaking about Hays and West’s meeting with Dan and the phone records they’ve requested from a conversation that Lucy had two months ago.

Tom tracks down Dan, with their conversation descending into a fight. Tom holds a gun to Dan and asks him questions about the case including if he knew about the peephole into Julie’s room. But Dan denies knowing anything about that, instead revealing that Lucy was paid to keep quiet about what she knew. Elsewhere, Hays heads over to the old Purcell home, which now stands empty, to reexamine the peephole. He concludes that it was used to pass notes between the rooms, as a form of comfort when their parents were fighting.

Amelia releases her book but during a public Q&A at her book signing, a man with a damaged eye asks about Julie being alive and if Amelia knows where Julie is. He scolds her for using the case as something to profit off. That evening, Tom breaks into the owner of Hoyt Foods’, Edward Hoyt, mansion despite spotting cameras inside the property. Downstairs in the basement he finds a room decorated from top to bottom in pink before noticing something off to the side. Then we see Harris James appears behind him.

In 2015, Elisa questions Hays about whether Tom was involved in planting Will’s backpack under Brett’s porch. He scolds her for speculating about the case and ends the interview for the day. Hays tells Henry that he knows about his affair with Elisa, despite Henry having a wife and children. Going over the case with West, Hays shares the conclusion he came to about the notes back in 1990. Hays leaves the room and when he re-enters, he’s forgotten who West is. After being asked to check whether there’s a car watching from outside, West looks out and sees nothing.

In 1980, West drops by the Purcell house to find Tom moving out. Before he leaves, West gives Tom his personal number so that he can reach out if he needs to. Amelia speaks to Hays about writing a book about the Purcell case, with Hays encouraging her to do so.

In 1990, Hays and West attend a crime scene where Tom Purcell’s body is found, alongside a suicide note. West believes that they’re responsible for Tom killing himself, as they pushed him when he was brought in for questioning.

Amelia tells Hays about the man with one eye at her book reading. Determined to not give up her own investigation, Amelia heads to speak with one of Lucy’s friends who has a photo of Will and Julie dressed up for Halloween with two people in the background.

Hays and West visit the motel that Dan O’Brien was staying at, finding no Dan only evidence of their fight the previous night. Hays pretends to be West so he can obtain Lucy’s flight records. Elsewhere, Amelia heads out in the evening to meet a man who reveals that he saw Dan meeting a man who was missing an eye. The next morning, Hays heads over to West’s to show him what he’s found in the phone records – Lucy and Harris James spoke on the phone and Harris flew to Vegas the night before Lucy died, returning the following day. Hays believes Harris is involved and that he was probably the one who planted Will’s backpack. But West is hesitant to push this line of enquiry, not wanting to risk his career.

Hays and West pull Harris over but he refuses to get out of the car, so they resort to aggressive tactics. They take him to a deserted barn, where they share their theories about his involvement and question him further. Harris states he had nothing to do with Will and Julie’s disappearance. He manages to free himself and attacks Hays, leaving them no choice but to shoot him dead. Whilst burying his body, West vents at Hays – angry at what he’s got him involved in.

Back home, Hays burns his clothes in his garden. A concerned Amelia asks him what he’s doing but he ignores her. The following morning Hays’ conversation with Amelia is interrupted by a phone call from Edward Hoyt, who is outside his house wanting to speak to him about what happened last night. Hoyt references Hays’ wife and children, using them as a way to get Hays to come and speak with him. So, Hays leaves the house and gets into the car with it driving off.

In 2015, Elisa asks if Hays ever questioned whether Tom’s death was staged to look like a suicide. She also questions if anything ever pointed to there being a coverup. Elisa shares evidence about a black man with a milky eye, with a witness revealing he identified himself as ‘Watts’. Elisa believes that he could be a ‘procurer’ for a paedophile ring. She shares her theory that one of the Purcell parents sold the kids off to the ring, which is why all those involved are no longer alive. Evidence of other districts trying to investigate similar angles points to high-powered politicians shutting down the investigation. West speaks to Henry, warning him that what Hays is doing could be dangerous.

Hays and West speak with a previous housekeeper for the Hoyt family. She reveals that Mr Hoyt had a daughter, called ‘Miss Isabel’, who lost her family and got into a car accident herself. Miss Isabel lived in the basement of the property, where only one person was allowed to visit her – a black man with one dead eye, who they called ‘Mr June’. During the conversation, Hays experiences a vision of his daughter.

Hays sees the car outside his house again and this time West spots it too. He heads out with a baseball bat to scare them off, whilst West takes a picture of the car’s number plate.

In 1980, the police department are angry about an article Amelia has written for a newspaper which criticises the investigation and implies that evidence is being ignored. The Police Chief and Kindt ask Hays to retract his statement that is included in the article but he refuses to do so. Hays is offered two options – a demotion to an administrative role or quit. He chooses the former.

Amelia and Hays meet that evening and get into a fight, with Hays accusing Amelia of using him for her book. Later at a bar, Hays and Amelia have a conversation which ends with Hays proposing to Amelia.

In 1990, Hays heads off in the car with Hoyt – who knows everything about his investigation. In the woods, they exit the car to talk in private with Hoyt asking what happened to Harris. Hays plays dumb, so Hoyt reveals his cards, confessing that he had a tracker on Harris’s car and knows where his last known location was. Hoyt tells Hays to stop investigating, leaving him in the woods to make his own way home.

Amelia finds Hays in a bar, where she confronts him over his past behaviour. He reveals his plan to resign from the police. Elsewhere, West gets into a barfight with a motorcycle crew.

In 2015, Hays and West speak with Harris James’s widow to see if she ever saw Harris with a man with a milky eye. She reveals that someone matching that description came over to her house a few weeks after Harris went missing, asking whether Harris had found the girl. She recalls him introducing himself as ‘Junius’.

The pair decide to head to the now abandoned Hoyt mansion to see what they can find. Inside they find the pink basement, where there’s a painting on the wall with three individuals – a Princess Mary, Sir Junius and Queen Isabel.

With some help from the DMV, they get an address for a ‘Junius Watts’ and head over to his house. To their surprise he’s been expecting them to visit, as he was the person who was parked outside Hays’s house. Inside the house, Junius reveals all.

Isabel Hoyt lost her daughter and husband in a car accident, leaving her grief-stricken and unable to leave the house. At an employee picnic in 1979, Isabel spots Julie and notes her strong resemblance to her late daughter and asks to see her again. So, Junius approaches Lucy on the factory line to see if Lucy will allow Isabel to play with Julie - which she agrees to in return for money. But unbeknownst to Junius, Isabel stopped taking her medication and tried to take Julie. Will, trying to protect his sister, fights Isabel before she pushes him and he falls, hitting his head on a rock.

Harris James helped Junius cover up what happened, paying off Lucy and planting Will’s backpack under Brett’s porch. Junius reveals Julie was happy for many years but then he realised that Isabel had been giving her lithium from the age of 10. As she got older, Julie started asking questions about her old life so Junius helped her escape but she disappeared and he hasn’t been able to find her since. Junius reveals that he found Julie in 1997, at a convent. Junius reveals the reason he was sitting outside Hays’ house is because he wanted to confess. He asks them to arrest him but as they’re both retired they can’t do that, with West suggesting if he can’t live with what he did then he should kill himself.

Hays and West visit the convent to find out more. They are told Julie had HIV and are shown to her gravestone. As they leave the convent, they bump into the groundskeeper and his daughter Lucy.

Despite having spoken with Junius and finally getting the information they were after, Hays and West don’t feel they’ve got closure. The next day, Hays reads a section from Amelia’s book where she speaks about Julie’s childhood friend Mike Ardoin, who was very upset about her disappearance because he always believed he’d marry her. His hallucination makes him realise that the groundskeeper he bumped into at the convent is Mike and that his daughter, Lucy, could be Julie’s daughter. Could Julie’s death have been staged to protect her?

Hays gets his hands on Mike’s address and heads there. But as he pulls in his memory fails him and he can’t remember why he’s there. He calls Henry who tells him to ask the woman at the house for help, with Hays relaying the address to Henry over the phone so he can come and collect him. The woman offers him a glass of water, with his memory returning as he drinks it. Henry takes Hays home, where he heads out to play with his grandchildren. Henry finds his father’s note with the address of the woman, deciding to keep it. Watching his grandchildren play on the grass, Hays reflects on the moment he asked Amelia to marry him and the episode ends with a flashback to him in the woods in Vietnam.

The third season welcomed back T Bone Burnett, who worked on the soundtrack for the previous seasons of True Detective. Tracks in this season include:

• Death Letter – Cassandra Wilson
• Just Dropped In – Mickey Newbury
• Nights When I Am Sane – Mickey Newbury
• Sugarlight – X
• 1970 – The Stooges
• Billie’s Blues – Cassandra Wilson
• She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye – Jerry Lee Lewis
• Polly – Dillard & Clark
• My Foolish Heart – Bill Evans
• Blood – Algiers
• When I Go Away – Levon Helm
• Desperados Under the Eaves – Warren Zevon
• Ramblin’ Blues – Mickey Newbury
• Chopinesque – Jon Batiste
• Good Morning Heartache – Cassandra Wilson
• Saint James Infirmary Blues – Jon Batiste

True Detective Season 3 available exclusively on Sky Atlantic