Just yesterday, we brought you the unexpected news that Wedding Crashers actor Vince Vaughn was in preliminary talks for one of the lead male roles in the second season of HBO’s acclaimed True Detective. Now, thanks to TheWrap, a terrific amount of scoopage has followed suit, including new character details and word that Top of the Lake star Elisabeth Moss and The Killing actress Michelle Forbes are circling key female roles.
Let’s take this goldmine of information one scoop at a time, starting with the site’s overview of the second season, which Colin Farrell and Taylor Kitsch are almost set to topline. According to TheWrap:
“The second season of “True Detective” will follow the death of Ben Caspar, the corrupt city manager of a fictional California city who’s found brutally murdered amid a potentially groundbreaking transportation deal that would forever change freeway gridlock in the state. Three law enforcement officers from different cities and branches of the government are tasked with finding out who did it. They soon discover their investigation has much broader and darker implications than they initially thought.”
That certainly lines up with initial teases from writer/creator Nic Pizzolatto that the second season would feature the United States transportation system. Actually, though, Pizzolatto’s full quote was that the show would incorporate “the secret occult history of the United States transportation system.” As for that first part:
“Caspar’s 52-year-old corpse is found on a lonely stretch of Pacific Coast Highway near Big Sur — satanic symbols etched on his chest. It turns out he had a penchant for rough sex and may have been involved in the occult.”
That part also lines up with the Chinatown-esque plot details we got a little while back. TheWrap also provided clarification on which role Vaughn will be taking on. Turns out, the comedy actor will be breaking bad for this latest role, taking on the part of the season’s main villain:
“Frank Semyon, a former thug-turned-businessman who’s working with a local mayor and his political cohorts to spearhead the construction of a high-speed railway system that links Southern California to Northern California in order to reap financial gains from federal grants and land purchases.”
The report also featured updates on the nature of the roles being taken on by Farrell, Kitsch, Moss and Forbes. Let’s take those one at a time.