Last night, True Detective saw its season 1 finale, which was so popular that it crashed HBO Go. So what is next for the HBO series?

Nic Pizzolatto, True Detective creator, says that the success of season 1 has taught him a lesson.

"It's informed exactly one thing," he said in an interview with HitFix. "It's that I realize I need to keep being strange. Don't play the next one straight."

Season 2 has big shoes to fill. It's a good thing that Pizzolatto already knows what the next season will be about.

"I am still fleshing it out," he told Entertainment Weekly. "The basic idea: Hard women, bad men, and the secret occult history of the U.S. transportation system. I was well on my way in the writing but there's been a lot noise and work around the end of the first season that got in the way."

Season 1's religious themes and undertones might also make an appearance in the show's next season.

"I lived in the rural south in a heavily religious family but the only thing I can  point to there is this real sensitivity between knowing and wishing," Pizzolatto explained. "We live in a culture that has a real hard time distinguishing fiction from reality. Even when they're told something is fiction ... and it reflects one of [the] things that fascinates me about our species and our culture ... what we do with stories. I mean, look at people did with this story! It was a nice lesson learned for me. The show is not anti-religion or anti-anything. The show is against not thinking."

Unfortunately, Detective Rust Cohle, played by Matthew McConaughey, and Detective Marty Hart, played by Woody Harrelson, will not be returning. Michelle Monaghan is also not likely to return.
Season 2 will reportedly feature a new cast and storyline.

"We won't be back for season two," McConaughey said last week. "Season one was finite."

The story of Cohle and Hart could live on, however, as Pizzolatto has acquired the literary rights to the characters.

"So maybe you will see Cohle and Hart novels down the road after Hollywood kicks me out," Pizzolatto said. "Always a possibility."

Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @SH____4.