True Detective Season 3: 10 Things That We Still Have Questions About

True Detective started off with a bang in 2014 with its first season that got rave reviews and viewers hooked. That was followed up by a lackluster second season. But season 3, which aired its eight episodes in January 2019, brought the anthology crime drama back to its initial glory. Each season features a new cast, and follows detectives investigating a major crime. There are twists, turns, red herrings, and plenty of shocking moments to keep viewers at the edge of their seats.

In season 3, which starred Mahershala Ali, Carmen Ejogo, and Stephen Dorff, the producer of a true crime documentary tries to get former detective Wayne Hays, now suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia, to recall the events of a murder and missing child from 1980s that he was investigating. The series jumps through three different timelines as viewers try to figure out what really happened to the Purcell children. After the finale, many of our questions were answered. But some still remain.

10 Did Wayne Hays Really Forget Who Julie Was?

After a long search, and figuring out that Julie Purcell was actually likely still alive, Wayne tracks her down, arrives at her house, and just then he has an episode and completely forgets where he is, how he got there, and why.

You can see the confusion in his face as she says hello and asks if she can help him. But did he really have no idea who she was in a cruel twist of fate? Or was there some level of recollection there? This question has actually been answered. During an Instagram chat, series writer and creator Nic Pizzolatto confirmed that no, Wayne did not have a clue who she was. He really did forget.

9 How Did Amelie Hays Die?

It’s clear that in present day, Amelie, Wayne’s wife, has died. But how? This is never really discussed. Pizzolatto again answers this one in his Instagram chat, noting that she died peacefully but suddenly in her sleep in 2013, and hinting that it was the studio’s decision to leave that small but significant detail out of the series.

Given how integral Amelie was to the plot, developments in the case, and Wayne’s motivations, it would have been nice to have given the character a bit more attention in her death, or at least mentioning in passing how she died.

8 Were Amelie and Wayne Still Married At The Time Of Her Death?

While Wayne still had deep affections for his wife Amelie, they fought viciously throughout their marriage. And while we know they were together in the ‘90s, we have no indication that they remained together through to her death.

Did their marriage fall apart in between the ‘90s timeline and the current 2015 one? Or were they still very much in love at the time of her death? Also worth wondering: when did Wayne start showing symptoms of his disease, and was Amelie still alive at that time?

7 Why Was Wayne Estranged From His Daughter Becca?

We hear of daughter Becca, and she appears in one scene, portrayed by Deborah Ayorinde, when she drives him home and talks with him on the front porch. But a rift between the two is referenced earlier, and they’re evidently not on good terms, and rarely speak. Yet we never found out what happened. Was there a bitter divorce between Wayne and Amelie, and the kids took sides? Or was it something else? Did it have to do with the case and Wayne’s obsession with it?

It could simply be an insignificant detail, like that she simply went off to college and didn’t have time to care for her ailing dad or wasn’t able to mentally handle his illness. Nonetheless, it would have been nice to address, if even briefly.

6 Who Made the Peephole in the Purcell Children’s Closet?

When Wayne discovered a small peephole looking straight into Julie’s bedroom in the Purcell house, viewers were instantly convinced that something seriously sinister had been going on. Yet, as we discovered, there wasn’t really anything odd going on in the house that would suggest use of the peephole. And there was never any resolution as to who created it and why.

Was it just something fun the kids did to communicate with one another? Did someone put it there on purpose to raise suspicion and direct police to the dad or uncle instead of the real suspect? This turned out to be a total red herring, designed to keep viewers off the scent of the truth and the actual killer. And we may never understand its purpose, if there was one, beyond that.

5 Will Henry Solve the Case For His Father?

At the end of the series, when Wayne’s son Henry shows up to take a bewildered Wayne home from Julie’s house, Henry takes the address and puts it in his pocket. He obviously knows this address is important to his father, and likely has something to do with the case. Will he pursue it further to finally put an end to the mystery of what happened to Julie, and close the cold case once and for all? Or will he leave Julie to live in peace, her true identity never discovered by authorities?

In the aforementioned Instagram reveal, Pizzolatto does allude to the fact that Henry is a “brilliant detective” which means he might put two and two together to discover the truth and finish what his father started and so desperately wanted to end.

4 Is That Really Julie Purcell or, Does She Know Who She Really Is?

It’s almost definitively Julie Purcell that Wayne finally tracks down in the end – it’s hard to dispute a resounding yes as an answer to that question. But does she have any idea about her past, or was she so pumped full of drugs in her youth that she has no recollection of her past life?

We know her husband and childhood friend Mike Ardoin definitely knows who she is/was. But has she simply forgotten her life before being kidnapped and living in the convent?

3 Does Julie Recognize Wayne?

This also makes one wonder if Julie recognized Wayne at all or felt some kind of connection to him. We know after she contacted police urging the man who appeared on TV pretending to be her father (who actually was her father) to stop looking for her that she had watched some of the television news about the kidnapping. So she must have seen Wayne on television before, too, since he was a lead investigator on the case. She didn’t show any signs of having a clue who he was, and Pizzolatto has indeed confirmed that she didn’t know him. Still, somewhere in the back of her mind, was there a twinge of recognition?

2 Did the Documentary Ever Air?

Producer Elisa Montgomery had collected a ton of information from Wayne over the course of several interviews, many of which ended abruptly, for her true crime documentary. But whatever came of it? Did it air? How did it present Wayne, the Purcells, the investigation, and the case?

Pizzolatto confirmed that Henry was done with Elisa, so chances of him handing the address over to her to pursue for the documentary were slim to none. Did she proceed with what she had anyway? Or did they scrap the project altogether?

1 Why Did They Show a Final Shot of Wayne While In the War?

In the final shot of the series, the camera closes in on a young Wayne in gear during the Vietnam War. What did this mean? Theories have flown about that it suggests he had died and was flashing back to a pivotal point in his life. Others even predict that perhaps he was dead all along. Interestingly, Pizzolatto refuses to answer this question, saying he’d prefer to leave it up to interpretation, even though he knows very well why he added that scene.

He did confirm that Wayne was very much alive. It could have been a symbolic, representing how Wayne was always haunted by his past, how he will continue to be haunted by the case, or that his life will include being a hunt for the truth, whether it’s about the case or simply what he did the day before.

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