Only two days after Colin Farrell was reported as one of the stars, HBO has revealed that Vince Vaughn has joined True Detective season 2, and will star alongside Farrell in the series. This is a major reveal, of course: after True Detective blew up earlier this year with its first season starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey — one of the direct causes of what is now known as The McConaissance — the stars of season 2 have been widely speculated for months. With both Farrell and Vaughn confirmed, the series will officially begin production later this year in California.
This isn't the end of the casting bonanza, though. As previously reported, True Detective season 2 will have more than the two leads that season 1 made standard, and there's still one role for a major female lead that is not yet cast (though, there is reportedly a shortlist, and with names like Jessica Biel, Oona Chaplin, and Rosario Dawson, it looks pretty damn good.)
For now, we focus on Farrell and Vaughn, whose characters have been revealed now that casting is confirmed. Via a press release from HBO, Farrell will portray Ray Velcoro, "compromised detective whose allegiances are torn between his masters in a corrupt police department and the mobster who owns him," and Vaughn will portray Frank Semyon, "a career criminal in danger of losing his empire when his move into legitimate enterprise is upended by the murder of a business partner."
Personally, I think it sounds promising at the moment. Though Vaughn's role is, indeed, different from anything we've seem him do in the past (as in, Wedding Crashers, Dodgeball, Couple's Retreat), I think if there's one thing that True Detective has proven, it's that it has the uncanny ability to pluck actors who don't seem to fit the setting of a noir detective show and make them perfectly fit into it. Just look at McConaughey: Before True Detective and Dallas Buyer's Club, no one would have dreamed for a second that he was capable of pulling off a role like Rust Cohle, but now, here we are — post-McConaissance, and totally looking forward to his next role in Christopher Nolan's stunning-looking Interstellar .
That in mind, I'm withholding judgment until season 2 premieres, and, dare I say, I'm actually sort of confident we might be seeing something akin to the Vaughnaissance at this time next year. Anything can happen, right?
Considering season 2 won't begin production until later this year, and won't air until 2015, it may be a while until the rest of the cast is revealed — but, for now, this is definitely something to ponder over until that happens.
