The Sinner season 3 adds Sharp Objects star Chris Messina in major role

After HBO’s Sharp Objects, actor Chris Messina is getting embroiled in a different kind of case: The 44-year-old now joins Matt Bomer and Bill Pullman on USA’s The Sinner season 3 in a starring capacity.

Bomer succeeds Jessica Biel and Carrie Coon in the lead role for the next season, which the network promises will mark “the most dangerous and disturbing case” of Det. Harry Ambrose’s (Pullman) career. With the Magic Mike and Doom Patrol actor playing Jamie, an expectant father and model Dorchester resident who looks to Ambrose for support after an accident, Messina will play Nick Haas.

Nick is one of Jamie’s college friends, but “a surprise visit years later unexpectedly alters the course of their friendship and their lives,” according to the character description.

Hmm. Curiouser and curiouser.

The mystery in season 3 kicks off when Ambrose investigates what he thinks is a routine car accident on the outskirts of Dorchester, but what he uncovers pulls him into something much more complex.

Messina is a man about town in Hollywood, having featured on The Mindy Project, Live By Night, Cake, The Newsroom, Damages, and, of course, the Amy Adams-led Sharp Objects. He recently died his hair blonde because he’s starring as a baddie in the DC superhero movie Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) with Margot Robbie’s Clown Princess of Crime.

Additional pieces to the puzzle are Derek Simonds, returning as showrunner for The Sinner season 3, and Biel, sticking on as an executive producer.

Related content:

• The Sinner season 3 in the works with Matt Bomer
• Sharp Objects creators break down ‘tricky’ finale — and those end-credits scenes
• Bill Pullman spots a disturbing clue in The Sinner season 2 clip