Last week, it was announced that Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn, along with a yet to be cast female lead will star in the upcoming second season of “True Detective.” Farrell will star as a detective, while Vaughn has been cast as a career criminal and seems to be the antagonist of the new season. The only other details that have been revealed about the new season are that it will take place in California and will have something to do with, in the words of show creator Nic Pizzolatto, “the secret occult history of the United States transportation system.” That certainly leaves a lot of room for speculation, and because I am a huge fan of both speculation and “True Detective,” I have decided to come up with some scenarios of what the new season might have in store, as well as which female actress would be best cast as the lead.
Scenario Number 1: Hardcore highway commission
Colin Farrell plays a detective who, through a strange sequence of events involving an old case that will be chronicled through flashbacks, ends up working for the California Department of Transportation surveying highways. While in the midst of this unwelcome career change, he begins to notice strange vehicles coming down mostly deserted stretches of highway at odd times. He begins to investigate, and he and his partner (our female lead) discover that a criminal kingpin (Vaughn) has developed a human trafficking network with various members of the State Highway Patrol.
This, of course, will tie back into Farrell’s earlier case, and our two detectives are warned off the case by some sort of intimidating authority figure. As the season goes on, the two triumph over the deeply philosophical forces of evil, and viewers everywhere realize Vaughn should stick to acting in movies about sperm donors and dodgeball.
Perfect female lead: Can’t you totally see Maggie Gyllenhaal making the transition to the small screen and rocking this?
Scenario 2: The “Romeo and Juliet”
The first season of “True Detective” may have been the least classically romantic season of television since the most recent season of “The Bachelor,” and now the show takes a chance on trying a new spin on an old tale. Farrell and our female lead start as two detectives assigned to what seems like a simple robbery case, before they find that this one case has connections all over the state, with our villains seemingly traveling at obscene speeds between crimes. Vaughn, of course, would be the perpetrator of these robberies, a man brought up on the road who knows every nook and cranny of California.
However, this scenario focuses more on the evolution of our detective’s relationship from coworkers to friends and, in the penultimate episode, to star-crossed lovers. The season, of course, would have to end with our heroes tragically dying in an epic showdown with Vaughn and his goons.
Perfect female lead: Having proven she can play a tough character in “Homeland,” and being one of the stars of Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo and Juliet,” I believe it is ordained that this part be played by Claire Danes.
Scenario 3: Roadhouse
This one is pretty much just “Roadhouse,” with Farrell instead of Patrick Swayze.
Perfect female lead: Again, it’s “Roadhouse.” It doesn’t really matter who plays what, it will still be the most awesome thing anyone has ever seen.
Excited for “True Detective?” Let him know your predictions at smasal@wisc.edu.
