'True Detective' season 2: How new episodes compare to season one
The second season of 'Detective' stars Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Vince Vaughn, and Taylor Kitsch, among other actors.
'True Detective' stars Colin Farrell.
Lacey Terrell/HBO/AP
The second season of the HBO drama 鈥淭rue Detective鈥� premiered on June 21, with cast members including Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Vince Vaughn, and Taylor Kitsch.
The show鈥檚 first season, which aired in 2014, took place in Louisiana and starred actors Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as police detectives Rust Cohle (McConaughey) and Marty Hart (Harrelson), who are drawn into a bizarre conspiracy. Both actors were nominated for Emmy awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series for their roles.听
The second season features an all-new setting and characters and takes place in California. Farrell stars as a crooked police detective named Ray Velcoro; McAdams is troubled police detective Ani Bezzerides; Kitsch鈥檚 character Paul Woodrugh is a highway patrolman; and Vaughn plays a white-collar criminal attempting to siphon federal funds from a transportation project. Like the first season, the second will consist of eight episodes.
While opinions of the first season varied as it went on, one aspect of the first season of "Detective" that received much praise was the pairing of McConaughey and Harrelson. As for the second season, critic Frazier Moore, for one, found Farrell and Vaughn to be "excellent ...听Even darker than last year, this season sets out on one very black journey, both visually and tonally."
Farrell, McAdams, Kitsch, and Vaughn would be an impressive lineup for a movie, never mind a TV show, which might be due to the relative ease of casting a show with an anthology format.听So far, actors have only needed to sign on for one season, and the creators have managed to draw a higher caliber of star to the show in its first two seasons.
Another current show with an anthology format, FX's "Fargo," has managed to cast Hollywood stars Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton for its first season, which aired in 2014. The show will feature a new cast for its next season,聽according to the .听
"True Detective's" format has had other networks crying foul when it comes to awards season, however. During the last Emmys season, many were baffled by the categories in which some shows were placed for nominations 鈥� for example, 鈥淒etective鈥� was nominated for Best Drama but 鈥淔argo鈥� received a nod for Best Miniseries. FX Networks CEO John Landgraf said he believes networks like HBO have an advantage in a Best Drama category because they can lure stars with one-season contracts. 鈥淢y own personal point of view is that a miniseries is a story that ends, a series is a story that continues,鈥� he said, according to . 鈥淭o tell you the truth, I think it鈥檚 actually unfair for HBO to put 鈥楾rue Detective鈥� in the drama series category because essentially you can get certain actors to do a closed-ended series 鈥� who you can鈥檛 get to sign on for a seven-year deal.鈥�
If the second season of 鈥淒etective鈥� is a success, HBO may bring on even more big names for future seasons of the drama.