Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn lead ‘True Detective’ Season 2 cast

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"True Detective" casting: Colin Farrell as cop, Vince Vaughn as criminal

New season allegedly to be set in California

Plenty of rumors, but little confirmation on storyline

CNN  — 

Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn will lead the cast of “True Detective’s” second season, HBO confirmed Tuesday.

Farrell had already told the Irish newspaper The Sunday World he would be part of the series, but Vaughn’s name had only been rumor until HBO’s confirmation.

Colin Farrell confirms he’s joining ‘True Detective’

The network (which, like CNN, is owned by Time Warner) has remained tight-lipped about the rest of the casting – or, for that matter, things like plot details.

Colin Farrell told an Irish newspaper he's in the show.

“Three police officers and a career criminal must navigate a web of conspiracy in the aftermath of a murder,” is how HBO’s press release described the story.

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,” and Vaughn will star 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.”

Vince Vaughn attends the Chicago premiere of 'Couples Retreat' at the AMC River East on October 6, 2009 in Chicago, Illinois

Nic Pizzolatto, who created the show and wrote its hit first season, has penned the new season as well. He told the radio show “To the Best of Our Knowledge” that the new season is set in California, but not Los Angeles.

“We’re going to try to capture a certain psychosphere ambiance of the place, much like we did in Season 1,” he told the show.

Rumors have been rife that the topic will be a “Chinatown”-esque story about resources, transportation and crime. Pizzolatto said it was about “hard women, bad men and the secret occult history of the United States transportation system.”

Justin Lin will direct the first two episodes.