Colin Farrell joining True Detective

Colin Farrell has told Irish newspaper Sunday World he is doing the second season of anthology series True Detective.

“I’m doing the second series. I’m so excited,” he said.

“I know it will be eight episodes and take around four or five months to shoot. I know very little about it, but we’re shooting in the environs of Los Angeles which is great.

Farrell has been one of the names rumoured, potentially with Taylor Kitsch if chatter is to be believed.

“It’s been shown time and time again how [channels like] HBO have raised the bar regarding production values and fundamentally the writing that all their shows are based on,” he said.

“It’s extraordinary; it has reached a new level. You get to familiarise yourself with characters week after week. You get to build a life that takes a while to experience as an actor and also that takes a while to experience as a viewer. There’s just a greater sense of life to it.”

In August HBO boss Mike Lombardo said of the second season, “[It has] different characters, a different setting. It’s set in California, all of California. There are three cops. One of the characters is female. I think that’s probably all I’m allowed to say. We’ll probably be announcing casting soon.”

Farrell’s longest TV role to date is Ballykissangel in the late 1990s.