While HBO would only say that True Detective casting news would likely emerge next week—and Nic Pizzolatto only confirming that next year would find four pairs of eyes wearily contemplating the California shoreline—both Deadline and The Wrap are already confidently reporting that Colin Farrell is in talks to star in the show’s second season, while The Wrap also throws Taylor Kitsch and Garrett Hedlund into the mix. As for Farrell, The Wrap says Farrell fulfills the network’s hopes to once again land a “true movie star, someone who could play rugged and gritty.” Kitsch, meanwhile, is reportedly edging out Hedlund for the younger male lead. Fittingly for the show, both actors are all too familiar with man’s capacity for cruelty, based on the responses to A Winter’s Tale and John Carter.
Farrell is reportedly in “deep negotiations” and is said to be all but a lock for the role, which The Wrap’s sources say will be next season’s primary focus. Those same sources also claim that both Christian Bale and Jessica Chastain were approached, but ultimately passed because of scheduling issues. They also go even further out on a limb to refute Pizzolatto’s claims that there will be four leads, saying there will be only three—presumably Farrell and Kitsch, plus one woman yet to be cast. But while you wait for more official confirmation, you should by all means begin flooding #TrueDetectiveSeason2 with Miami Vice and Friday Night Lights screencaps.