HBO's slew of new shows and "True Detective's" less-than-stellar reviews last season have had fans wondering whether the show has been canceled. It's not. The network might be taking its sweet time about it, but the series will definitely be returning.

There's no doubt that "True Detective" is one of HBO's groundbreaking shows. The first season of the anthology crime drama earned rave reviews, high ratings, and Emmy nominations for stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson and series creator Nic Pizzolatto. Unfortunately, the show's second season wasn't able to live up to the hype, although it still garnered good ratings.

Reports that "True Detective" would be canceled were rife after the second season, and the fact that HBO hasn't officially picked up the series for a third season seems to reinforce that belief. Fans shouldn't fear, though, as Casey Bloys, HBO's new programming chief, told the press during the network's TCA presentation that the series "is not dead." He also revealed that HBO and Pizzolatto are willing to do another season, but the writer has "no take on a third season yet."

The delay could be due to Pizzolatto's alleged new project, a "Perry Mason" reboot. The project will reportedly have the 41-year-old screenwriter working in tandem with Robert Downey Jr., who had been very vocal about his intention to bring Erle Stanley Gardner's famous character to life.

The fact that "True Detective" has a similar setup and feel to the Perry Mason novels has not escaped fans' attention either. Mason often works together with investigator Paul Drake and legal secretary Della Street, a triumvirate that can easily be translated into "True Detective."

As a matter of fact, some have speculated that the "Perry Mason" project can even be a rebooted "True Detective." Pizzolatto certainly has the writing talent to pull it off, as long as he's given enough time to really craft a good storyline.