‘True Detective’ Season 2 Will Have Three Leads, California Setting

More details have emerged about the cast and setting of “True Detective” season two, which will have three new leads, according to creator Nic Pizzolatto.

In a recent interview with public radio program “To the Best of Our Knowledge,” Pizzolatto revealed that in the new season’s current form, “we’re working with three leads. It takes place in California — not Los Angeles, but some of the much lesser known venues of California — and we’re going to try to capture a certain psychosphere ambiance of the place, much like we did in season one.”

He added, “The characters are all new, but I’m deeply in love with each of them. We’ve got the entire series broken out with a couple of scripts, and we’ll probably start casting in earnest in the coming months.”

The show’s anthology format means that season two will be entirely self-contained and distinct from its freshman year, with no plans for season one stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson to return — something that differentiates the series from FX’s “American Horror Story,” which recycles actors from past seasons in new roles.

Pizzolatto previously told HitFix that “True Detective” season two would be about “hard women, bad men and the secret occult history of the United States transportation system.”

Last week, rumors circulated that “Zero Dark Thirty” star Jessica Chastain was offered a role in season two, but the actress denied the buzz on the red carpet at Cannes. “It’s an awkward thing because when all that attention happens — it takes away from whoever plays the role,” she said. “I’m a big fan of the series. I’m going to watch the second season just like I watched every episode of the first.”

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