Matthew McConaughey and True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto are reuniting for a new FX drama called Redeemer. The series is inspired by Patrick Colman’s novel The Churchgoer, notes The Hollywood Reporter, and it marks the first time Pizzolatto and McConaughey are working together since the first season of the HBO show.
Redeemer stars McConaughey as “a former minister-turned-dissolute security guard, whose search for a missing woman in Texas leads him through a corruption and criminal conspiracy, as his past and present impact and entwine around a mystery of escalating violence and deceit.” Bert Salke’s Fox 21 and Landgraf’s FX Productions will produce the drama, and both Pizzolatto and McConaughey will serve as executive producers as well. It currently has a script-to-series commitment, but it will likely become a proper cable TV show if the pilot goes well.
“We are thrilled to begin our creative partnership with Nic Pizzolatto and Matthew McConaughey on Redeemer, who are back together for the first time since the first season of HBO’s True Detective,” said FX Entertainment president Eric Schrier. “We’re also incredibly excited about our overall deal with Nic and look forward to developing new projects with him and our partners Fox 21 Television Studios, and we’re equally excited to be developing projects with Matthew through his first-look deal with FXP.”
If Redeemer is anything like season one of True Detective, then we’re in store for some remarkable TV. The HBO show saw McConaughey give a career-best performance that helped it earn 12 nominations at the Emmys. It was so good, in fact, that McConaughey himself wants to return to the series and “wouldn’t hesitate” to do so if asked.
McConaughey hasn’t been on top of his game in films recently, so a return to TV could suit him. But hey, if all else fails, maybe he can work as a University of Texas professor again.