Sigh… I have some interesting but slightly depressing news. The cast for True Detective Season 2 has been officially confirmed. Colin Farrell is definitely one of the leads, he’ll be playing a “compromised detective” named Ray Velcoro (otherwise known as Raymond Velcro, one would assume). Vince Vaughn is definitely in there as a career criminal. And Taylor Kitsch is some kind of cop too. But HBO confirmed the two major female parts will be played by… Rachel McAdams and Kelly Reilly.
HBO is officially firming up True Detective’s second-season cast. The network has confirmed Rachel McAdams as the female lead, as well as Black Box alum Kelly Reilly and Friday Night Lights’ Taylor Kitsch in supporting roles. The eight-episode sophomore season, now in production in California, centers on three police officers and a career criminal who must navigate a web of conspiracy in the aftermath of a murder.
Colin Farrell will play Ray Velcoro, a compromised detective whose allegiances are torn between his masters in a corrupt police department and the mobster who owns him. Vince Vaughn is set as 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.
McAdams will play Ani Bezzerides, Ventura County sheriff’s detective whose uncompromising ethics put her at odds with others and the system she serves. Kitsch is set as Paul Woodrugh, a war veteran and motorcycle officer for the CHP who is running from a difficult past and the sudden glare of a scandal that never happened. Reilly is Jordan, Frank’s wife and a former D-list actress who is a full partner in his enterprises and ambitions.
Season two will be written by Nic Pizzolatto and will be directed by a cadre of helmers — including Justin Lin — after the planned departure of Emmy winner Cary Fukunaga. In a cover interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Pizzolatto, who not only writes every episode but is intimately involved with the casting, noted that a move to multiple directors for season two has more to do with being able to move at a faster production pace than anything else.
Despite critical raves almost across the board, particularly impressive for a first-time showrunner, the gritty anthology series failed to deliver on expectations at August’s Emmy awards, where AMC incumbent Breaking Bad proved the night’s big winner. Although Pizzolatto has looked to manage expectations ahead of the show’s sophomore season, HBO programming president Michael Lombardo has said on multiple occasions that the season two scripts that he’s seen are even “more exciting” than those for season one. Production on season two is set to begin later this fall in California.
Well… okay. I mean, this casting announcement doesn’t make me mad. We can always be grateful that Jessica Biel wasn’t cast, you know? But I’m sort of depressed about Rachel McAdams. Rachel could have been… Jessica Chastain, you know? Rachel could have been a major movie star. But there were some bad career decisions and now she’s probably grateful that she gets to do one season of a highly acclaimed HBO show. It could be worse for her, for sure. But it could have been better too. As for Kelly… I’m actually happy about that. She’s been trying to break it into American TV work for a while now, this might be the kickstart she needs. She’s actually a very talented character actress.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.
Um… I don’t dislike Kelly Reilly. Otherwise, a more uninspiring cast for my personal preferences, I simply can’t imagine.
I thought the same thing. They have to pay me to watch Vince Vaughn. Kelly Reilly is about the only one in that cast I could find of any interest.
It’s a major downgrade.
CAROLINE BINGLEY!!! Yes!
Anna Chancellor will always be Caroline Bingley to me. If you haven’t seen it the BBC version of Pride and Predjudice is the best. Colin Firth is the only Mark Darcy.
Oh, but Anna Chancellor will always be Duckface to me 🙂
amen
I get the impression McAdams made a conscious decision not to pursue fame.
Why do people use this logic?
They almost all pursue fame despite their protestations
Rachel like every other actress and her mean girl co stars, went after the Hollywood big parts, she just did not get them (like every other actress).
And the films she starred in except for a few like Red Eye did no business at the box office.
I don’t think it was her choice. Its just the roll of dice in Hollywood
I think she didn’t like the direction that her career had taken post-Mean Girls. The direction being nowhere. She overhauled her management recently.
I don’t think that’s the case. She’s worked a lot over the years, but her movies just haven’t ‘hit’.
I agree, she gives me the same impression. Is not that she stopped working, she was just low-key.
Love Rachel!
Me too. I loved her in Sherlock Holmes. I personally don’t rate her as a poorer choice than Jessica Chastain because I’ve never felt inclined to watch any of her films. Maybe because I like light stuff, but I’ve seen many more films with Rachel McAdams. And Kelly Reilly is great in everything.
I liked Jessica Chastain when she did The Help, but as I saw more of her movies, I feel like she was overhyped. Like in Lawless—she was effing lucky that she had the Hardy to act with, because I didn’t feel anything for her character really–she was interesting, because Hardy was interesting. She seems so stiff to me now.
Ugh, Chastain is so overhyped and overrated as an actress, and her unquenchable thirst for awards has turned me off to her completely.
I’m a Rachel McLoonie
Rachel is so beautiful. She has a perfect face, that’s what I think of when I see her in some movie, and not about her acting.
I disagree that Rachel doing the show is sad. A lot of movie stars are doing tv movies/series on pay networks like HBO. They find the stories and writing better. It’s not shameful for a movie actor to do tv anymore. Besides Rachel strikes me as somebody who prefers work to fame/celebrity.
Yeah. There;s lots of good roles for women on TV. And the fact that you’re on TV does not mean your career is going south. It’s a great show.
J. Aniston is headlining films all the time and hasn’t gone back to TV since Friends (I think), does that mean she has a great career? Um, no.
I completely agree! It isn’t a “downgrade” at all.
In fact, MORE people are watching the buzzed about TV shows than your typical movie. TV always had more eyes, but now it is getting more critical credibility as well. We are in the midst of a TV revolution, and I think True Detective has as much buzz as a show could possibly have. TV is luring the top talent…that is why Matthew and Woody signed on last year. They weren’t afraid to dip their movie-star toes into TV because they know that is where the big picture is headed.
I totally agree. Roles have changed, TV is the one taking risks now while movies look mostly to please audiences. The biggest movies nowadays are all super commercial franchises, which I like a lot, personally, but are far from risky. TV has much better scripts and complex roles. And it’s not a novelty, either. Dozens of actors are doing this, and a lot of them could’ve perfectly kept a decent career on the big screen.
Hope Season 2 lives up to the hype.
The female leads seem fine, though I only know Reilly from that NBC show that looked so bad just from the commercials. I’m happy for Rachel though, I hope it leads to more good things for her.
It’s the male leads I find very uninteresting, compared to the Woody/Matthew cast from last year. Colin might be good, but I bet Vaughn annoys me right away.
Yeah!! Both excellent actresses!!
I like Rachel but sometimes I feel like bc I like her I’ve convinced myself she’s a better and more versatile actress than she actually is.
Yeah I have this same struggle. I just really like her but sometimes I wonder if I have blinders on.
I think the TD people are too involved with this series to cast actors on a whim so that leads me to think that they very much believe in McAdams’ capability.
This makes me happy. Because I’ve fell on that line of thinking as well. I just genuinely like her. So I wonder if maybe I idealize her a bit, but that’s true. They seem to really care about casting.
I wouldn’t feel too sorry for McAdams. I think her career has done just fine and she’s obviously bankable. I think this is a really good move for her.
I think this is a great idea for Rachel McAdams, and Kelly Reily. Television actors are making as much/more money than the big movie actors these days. It made Mathew McConnehey a gained market in the world of television, he’ll he was nominated with an Emmy. And a lot of hollywood actors of the past, are gaining more attention on the small screen than they are on th big screen.
And since theatre is now standing and prominent part of acting world. Still people should see, how your acting caliber is worth the attention.
I don’t buy her as a detective. But yeah, you’re right, she could’ve been bigger. Her first mistake was turning down Devil Wears Prada. It was said that Ryan Gosling influenced her decisions at the time, wanting her to take a more artistic route.
She also turned down Pepper Potts – she was Jon Favreau’s first choice for the roll.
Talk about a W.T.F decision!?!
Same with the part that went to Katie Holmes in Batman.
Yes she Turned down a lot of commercial roles that cost her in the long run. As a man Gosling could afford to take his time with only edgy roles. Actors in their mid 30s are paired with actresses in their 20s. Rachel should have struck while the iron was hot. Seriously she could have been Pepper instead of goop!
I always thought Rachel will make it as a movie star, she is pretty, she is likeable, she is talented. What happened? I want to see more of her than, let’s say.. Lily Colins.
While everyone is talented, I really wish for once they would have some diversity.
•sally•
I agree. Pasty white pretty people gets boring.
Lainey had a blind about Rachel a couple years ago about her manager. I’ve always felt Rachel was more of a Meg Ryan type. Im excited to see her do something different this is a great move!
What about her manager?
I was just thinking about that, Ashley. Was that the same blind as the McAdams/Alba/Fantastic 4 debacle?
What was the blind about?
The one I’m thinking about is when Alba allegedly nabbed the Fantastic Four role out from under Rachel.
http://www.blinditemsexposed.com/search/label/Rachel%20McAdams
Well she now changed her management and it looks like it paid off for now. I hope she gets better roles and that this role leads to better stuff.
Not to be mean, but have you seen “A Most Wanted Man”? Admittedly it was not a great role (or film), but she has not the presence for a movie star. Bland would be a kind way to describe her. She is not a bad actress and I do not dislike her, but she is probably better suited to TV.
Hubs and I watched that this weekend. Her accent was terrible. She brought nothing to the movie…but then I also thought it was pretty boring with a bad ending, so…
I can’t comment on her accent, because I unfortunately only saw a dubbed preview. And I have to agree that the whole movie was a disappointment and quite boring. Her part was very underwritten, but she added nothing to it, absolutely no charisma (at least not for a big screen). Grigoriy Dobrygin was good though.
They both did Sherlock… but I don’t think they had scenes together. Maybe they can commiserate on the restless brilliance of RDJ.
I still haven’t watched season 1, I should probably get on it.
This entire cast seems boring. I just knew it would be an all bland beige casting.
As an actress I don’t think Rachel is anything special. She can do the Cute Woman act but that’s about it. This role sounds very different from that, so I guess we’ll see if she can handle it.
In general I’m not too enthused about the second season of this show.
Hmm?? Matthew McConaughey was in the first season so I would hardly call a part on this show “depressing” or a bad career choice.
But most importantly SO excited to see Taylor Kitch again!!
I am okay with this, I guess, in terms of how much I like each of the actors in question. I could watch Taylor Kitsch watch paint dry.
There was criticism after the first season for not writing any substantial female characters into the story, so they add some ladies. Fantastic! Maybe by the third season, the writers will discover that the world isn’t made up entirely of white people! Fingers crossed, guys!
Really like both actresses though I agree that Rachel McAdams’ career has taken a bad turn lately. Kelly Reilly is a top notch actress, really like her in everything I’ve seen her but will never forget Eden Lake, one of the most horryfing, bleak movies I’ve ever seen. She was amazing in it (Michael Fassbender played her boyfriend).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1020530/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_22
Well, at least True Detective is a step is the right direction for career rehabilitation. We all wanted better for her, but there have been actors and actresses who have been were in worse career straits who have bounced back, so Rachel has a good shot at a turnaround.
I really disliked season 1. I finally watched it after hearing everyone saying what a great show it was. I kept saying to myself “Ok this is going to pick up on the next episode for sure” It never did. What a waste of time that was!
I had the same problem. I lasted through two episodes only, and after that I had enough. Honestly, I’m not sure what was worse for me: plot that was so predictable and boring or McCounaughy’s acting. He was so tiresome. But; I have to give him credit for Dallas Buyers Club and Interstellar.
Kelly Reilly and Rachel McAdams!!! I couldn’t be happier 🙂 maybe I’ll actually be able to watch this season. I just couldn’t do last season.
Unimpressed so far. If they set it in California, then why not have some casting that is more reflective of the population there?
Seriously all 5 are white!
Oh c’mon, don’t you love Rachel? I love seeing her, she’s pretty versatile to me.
I love her. I loved about time, time travelers wife, the vow, midnight in Paris (minus woody Allen creep factor), red eye…. I’m a fan. 🙂