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The True Detective season 2 trailer is here — and it looks just as gritty as ever

HBO
Christophe Haubursin
Christophe Haubursin was a senior producer for the Vox video team. Since joining the team in 2016, he has produced for Vox’s YouTube channel and Emmy-nominated shows Glad You Asked and Explained.

Fans of True Detective who’ve been worried about the dramatic chops of Vince Vaughn and a mustachioed Colin Farrell, fear no more — HBO has released a trailer for season two, and it looks pretty damn good.

“Sometimes your worst self is your best self,” Vaughn says over shots of sprawling California highways, in what might be the enigmatic “time is a flat circle” quote of this season. It’s hard to imagine True Detective without the bayous and backlands of Louisiana, but the show’s gloomy tones and moral ambiguity play well in its new Southern California setting.

Three cops — detective Ray Velcoro (Farrell), sheriff Ani Bezzerides (Rachel McAdams), and highway patrol officer Paul Woodrugh (Taylor Kitsch) — are at the center of the new story. Vaughn’s Frank Semyon is an entrepreneur with criminal ties whose partner in a development deal becomes the victim of a mysterious murder.

True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto wrote all eight episodes of the new season, which was filmed on location in California, and Vaughn has said that a large chunk of the action takes place in Los Angeles.

Several directors are set to take the helm throughout the season, replacing season one director Cary Fukunaga. Justin Lin (who directed movies three through six of the Fast & Furious franchise) will direct the first two episodes.

True Detective season two premieres Sunday, June 21 at 9pm on HBO.

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