Antonio Banderas Joins Nicolas Cage in HBO's Next 'True Detective'

Banderas will play Rai Garcia opposite Cage's Henry Logan when showrunner Issa López starts production on season five in 2027.

Nicolas Cage confirmed at New York Comic-Con last week that he was joining "True Detective." By Friday, HBO's crime anthology had found him a co-star: Antonio Banderas.

Banderas, the "Pain and Glory" star, will play a character named Rai Garcia in the fifth season, Deadline reported Friday, with Cage as Henry Logan and production set to begin in 2027. TVLine confirmed both stars the same day and said no other plot or character details were available. That's two movie stars on one season of TV, and so far the public has two names to go on.

Both stars will also be executive producers, per Deadline, on a list that still carries the season-one leads, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, and series creator Nic Pizzolatto. Pizzolatto ran the first three seasons before stepping back, TVLine noted.

The person actually running things is Issa López, who took over for season four, "Night Country," wrote and directed it, and returns as writer, director and showrunner. HBO drama chief Francesca Orsi told Deadline last year that López still has plenty to say and that the new season moves to a different world with the same force.

Banderas has some history at the network. One of his two Emmy nominations came for HBO's 2003 movie "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself," and the other for playing Pablo Picasso in "Genius: Picasso," according to TVLine.

Cage is coming off a shorter stay on TV: his Prime Video superhero series "Spider-Noir" was canceled after one season, TVLine reported. On "True Detective," one season is the design. Since the show premiered in 2014, every season has started over with a new story and new leads.

Those leads have moved around the map, from Louisiana to California, the Ozarks and Alaska, Deadline noted. The Alaska season, "Night Country," starred Jodie Foster and Kali Reis, and Foster won an Emmy for it, according to TVLine.

Next stop is New York, if Deadline has it right: it reports the season is set in Jamaica Bay. TVLine says that setting, along with a description of Logan as a New York detective, came from reports last year that HBO hasn't confirmed.

Source: Deadline, retrieved October 17, 2026. Other sources: tvline.com.