With the second season of its award-winning True Detective anthology airing next month, HBO has finally seen fit to unveil a suitably atmospheric, gritty trailer for what’s ahead. Though there’s not much here in terms of detail about the plot, every principal player gets a moment in the spotlight.
Of course, I’m still stinging from showrunner Nic Pizzolatto’s admittance that the “occult history” aspect of the season got cut early on, but the presence of stars like Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch and Vince Vaughn intrigues me nonetheless.
Farrell is playing a compromised detective disillusioned with his bleak existence (and likely the source of any McConaughey-esque philosophical musings this season), McAdams plays a dedicated detective determined to remain true to her badge in a morally corrupt system, Kitsch is the police officer and war veteran who uncovers a horrific crime scene, and – to top it all off – Vaughn is playing the villain of the piece, a criminal kingpin. Also in the cast are Kelly Reilly, Ashley Hinshaw, Rick Springfield, C.S. Lee, James Frain, Lolita Davidovich and Riley Smith.
It’s going to be impossible for True Detective‘s second season to find the same lightning-in-a-bottle success of the first, but I’m hoping for a great, gritty crime saga all the same. The season premieres June 21.
A bizarre murder brings together three law-enforcement officers and a career criminal, each of whom must navigate a web of conspiracy and betrayal in the scorched landscapes of California. Colin Farrell is Ray Velcoro, a compromised detective in the all-industrial City of Vinci, LA County. Vince Vaughn plays Frank Semyon, a criminal and entrepreneur in danger of losing his life’s work, while his wife and closest ally (Kelly Reilly), struggles with his choices and her own. Rachel McAdams is Ani Bezzerides, a Ventura County Sheriff’s detective often at odds with the system she serves, while Taylor Kitsch plays Paul Woodrugh, a war veteran and motorcycle cop for the California Highway Patrol who discovers a crime scene which triggers an investigation involving three law enforcement groups, multiple criminal collusions, and billions of dollars.
