True Detective Season 2 Scripts “Better Than Last Season” And “Not As Dark”

HBO programming head Michael Lombardo can’t stop talking about the upcoming season of True Detective, though we don’t have even so much as an official casting announcement from the network. With the first season going up against Emmy heavyweight Breaking Bad, which has the nostalgia vote boosting its already stellar chances at this year’s awards, True Detective likely needs all the buzz it can get – so Lombardo is likely doing anything he can to keep the good press coming.

Included in his recent discussion about the acclaimed detective series have been some interesting comments about season 2, which will arrive on HBO next year and is again written by series creator Nic Pizzolatto. At the Edinburgh TV Festival, Lombardo confirmed some details about the upcoming season, stating:

“We’re going to start shooting in September for it to air next summer. [It has] different characters, a different setting. It’s set in California, all of California. There are three cops. One of the characters is female. I think that’s probably all I’m allowed to say. We’ll probably be announcing casting soon.”

Colin Farrell, Taylor Kitsch, Vince Vaughn, Elisabeth Moss and Michelle Forbes are all expected to have roles in the season, but HBO hasn’t confirmed any of those actors. According to various sources, the season’s cops will be played by Farrell, Kitsch and Moss.

Farrell may be playing a cocaine-addicted California Highway Patrol officer with anger management issues, who was put on leave after soliciting oral sex from a girl he pulled over for drunk driving. Meanwhile, Kitsch’s cop is “a handsome, 28-year-old military veteran who has seen his own share of violence and destruction.” And Moss is expected to play “a tough, no-nonsense Monterey sheriff whose troubled upbringing has driven her to gambling and alcohol.”

Vaughn and Forbes are rumored to be taking on supporting roles, with him possibly playing Frank Semyon, a thug-turned-businessman, and her either taking on the part of Frank’s spouse or Farrell’s character’s ex-wife (reports have varied but most have indicated that Forbes had her pick of the parts).

Lombardo recently stated that he’s read scripts for season 2, and they’re fantastic:

“When you have a success like True Detective it’s challenging, less for us and more for someone like Nic, how to face the page again and start afresh and not be haunted by the success of the show you’ve just done. But the writing is better than last season. It’s exceptional.”

He elaborated while in Edinburgh, revealing that the second season “won’t be quite as dark as the first” but quickly adding that:

“It’s still dark. [Creator, writer, and executive producer Nic Pizzolatto] explores the darkness in people’s souls. … It’s not as dark, but it’s not a light ride. Nic likes looking into the crevices of the soul.”

Additionally, don’t expect one helmer take on the whole season, as Cary Fukunaga did for season 1. “Three or four different directors” are in the mix, said Lombardo without revealing any names. It was reportedly exhausting for everyone involved to have one director handle all of season 1, so it’s not too surprising that HBO wants to spread the job around more this time.

We’ll keep you posted as more on season 2 of True Detective emerges, as it’s sure to in the coming weeks.