Is This Your New 'True Detective'?

It looks like the #tinydetectives Kate Mara and Ellen Page won't be getting a shot at True Detective season two after all. At least, not according to current reports. Nerdist.com revealed that Jessica Chastain was offered a lead role in True Detective that she has yet to decide on either way and we couldn't be more excited. Well, all right, I could be more excited if Chastain is paired with an actress of color in a diverse, female-driven season that makes up for the misogynistic pitfalls of season one, but for now I'm willing to take what I can get.

The casting rumor isn't confirmed, but it's not hard to see why Chastain might be a leading contender for a headlining role. She and Matthew McCounaghey, who starred as Rust Cohle in True Detective season one, are currently co-starring alongside one another in the upcoming Christopher Nolan film Interstellar. That could either be the real basis behind the rumor or the project that put Chastain on the True Detective creators' fast track to begin with. The fact that Chastain has twice been nominated for an Oscar doesn't hurt either.

Chastain has also had a string of roles that, in hindsight, could have prepared her for the harrowing world of True Detective. She starred as C.I.A. analyst Maya Lambert in Zero Dark Thirty and the independent mother bear Annabel in Mama, two characters so different from one another in personality and temperament that they can be held up as perfect examples of Chastain's acting range and ability to handle controversial material.

While it's true that Chastain can probably carry the lead role in the series all by herself if True Detective decides to veer away from the co-leads and partners aesthetic of the first season, my desire for more female friendships and complex female relationships in media has my fingers crossed that Chastain is only one of the eventually confirmed leads. True Detective has hinted that season two will rectify its treatment of women — or at least attempt to — and that's a lot easier to do when you have more than one woman in the main cast.

UPDATE: E! Online has confirmed that Jessica Chastain will not be appearing in True Detective after all. Watching Zero Dark Thirty to get your Chastain-being-a-badass fix will just have to suffice for now.