The New ‘True Detective’ Trailer: Mankind’s Cruelty Returns As The Focus

The second trailer for True Detective‘s upcoming season is now online, and it gives us our first actual look at some of the show’s dialogue. Along with images of bloodied knuckles, filthy underground nightclubs, and dusty, polluted exterior landscapes, the new trailer cements in a familiar feel for the series’ new story.

After a remarkably strong performance by True Detective‘s first season, Nic Pizzolatto returns as the creator and writer for the second in the anthology. And because the series is structured as an anthology, the second season is additionally burdened with the pressure of living up to the appeal of its predecessor, while telling a completely different story at the same time. Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams, and Taylor Kitsch take on the leading roles previously occupied by Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConnaughey.

Structured as part of an anthology, the second season of True Detective changes the setting of its predecessor’s from New Orleans to California’s Central Valley. With how contrasting the two locations are, the new story is confirmed to shift from the southern gothic tone that Louisiana allowed the first season of the show to take on. Along with a shift in setting, another departure is being made for the series in how the upcoming season will be helmed by different directors. The first season’s eight episodes were all directed solely by Cary Joji Fukunaga. Pizzolatto has emphasized, however, that the new story will still remain faithful to the feel of the first season. With how common it is for films to be shot in cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, the Central Valley running between them is still a location that often gets looked over because of how desolate it can get. With how dark HBO can allow its crime stories to become, the new location serves as an ideal successor to the haunting images that Louisiana brought to the show’s first season.

Given how important it is for an anthology to keep consistency in the stories it comprises, the new trailer also indicates a continuation of one of the themes that set the first season of the show apart from other cop dramas: its focus on human imperfection. When the first season of True Detective aired, it was marketed with the tagline, “Man is the cruelest animal.” For the new story, the trailer recites the same tagline written for the second season’s promotional posters: “We get the world we deserve.”

Watch The First Trailer For True Detective Below

True Detective premieres on June 21. The second season is written by Nic Pizzolatto, with the first two episodes being directed by Justin Lin.

[Photo captured from trailer by HBO]