“My strong suspicion is we got the world we deserve.”
So says the voiceover to the newest trailer to True Detective season 2. If fans of the first season starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson were worried that the heft of their story would give way to a standard police procedural in season 2, the dialogue and the inky darkness that permeates the entire trailer should put their minds at ease. While there have been no hints of Yellow Kings or elaborate killings for this go-around, there still seems to be a philosophical weight waiting to be unearthed in this outing, which stars Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams, and Taylor Kitsch. Below is the official synopsis for the season:
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.
We haven’t really seen either Vince Vaughn or Rachel McAdams in roles occupying the dark underbelly of humanity before, but, judging from their past films and the trailer, they clearly have the acting chops to pull it off. Vaughn, portraying a career criminal, has a heaviness to his movements throughout the trailer that suggest a world-weariness, while McAdams, playing a Ventura County sheriff’s detective, displays a grit and hard-edge that she’s rarely shown in the past. Of the entire cast, I’m really excited about what these two will bring to the table.
True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto handled the writing chores for the entirety of the upcoming episodes of the new season. The season premiere hits HBO on June 21.