There are seriously a ton of True Detective Season 2 cast rumors to get through, so lets get through them. 

Series creator Nic Pizzolatto says the new series will be about "hard women, bad men and the secret occult history of the United States transportation system... I need to keep being strange."

Nerdist reports that there will be multiple directors for the series, unlike season one which was wholly directed by Cary Fukunaga; various news sources have since reported the same.

An unnamed, and highly speculative - source tells Hollywood Life that Brad Pitt could be cast. "Brad's name has come up many times, it's just a matter of what his other commitments are... I know everyone would be thrilled to have him onboard."

Jessica Chastain denied being offered a role in True Detective.

Pizzolatto confirms with NPR that there will be three leads in the next series, and that it will be set in California: "Not Los Angeles but some of the much lesser-known venues of California, and we're going to try to capture a certain psychosphere ambiance of the place, much like we did in Season 1."

Deadline reports that "unofficial breakdowns" of the characters show them modelled on Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin and Christian Bale, with Chastain as the "prototype" for the female character. They also report "early speculation" about the involvement of Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett, seemingly based mostly on random blogs and Reddit threads hoping they'll get cast.

In June Pizzolatto said that "literally, not a single rumor about casting that has been printed anywhere has any truth to it whatsoever."

Pizzolatto admits that his earlier claim to there being three central characters has "ballooned a little bit. I would say there are four central roles."

Film Divider claims to have an insight into the narrative thrust of the series. "The new mystery is to be kickstarted by the murder of Ray Caspar, City Manager of a fictional Californian city," they write. "This plot will involve a corrupt scheme to link North and South California with a high speed train, all in pursuit of profitable land ownership and lucrative federal grants." They claim there would be three detectives, two men and a woman, with issues including alcohol, gambling, anger management, cocaine addiction, and sexual exploitation. Well, it certainly sounds like True Detective.

"The two scripts we have ... I hate to jinx it ... they are more exciting than the first season," says HBO's Michael Lombardo at a Television Critics Association press tour.

The Wrap reports that Colin Farrell and Taylor Kitsch are in talks for two of the lead roles; Kitsch is already an HBO favourite after his winning performance in The Normal Heart. Garrett Hedlund is also mentioned as being rumoured for a part. In another story, they report that Christian Bale chose not to sign up for a role.

The most recent rumor revolves around Elisabeth Moss playing one of the roles.

Deadline reports that Vince Vaughn has been approached for a lead, and that Pizzolatto wrote his part with the actor in mind, though they admit that "there are no formal negotiations yet."

The Wrap reports that Elisabeth Moss, known for her portrayal of Peggy in Mad Men and Robin in Top of the Lake, is "circling" the female lead, while Michelle Forbes of "The Killing" is being lined up for a "key role". They report that they've obtained a plot breakdown as follows:

True Detective Season 2, "will follow the death of Ben Caspar, the corrupt city manager of a fictional California city who's found brutally murdered amid a potentially groundbreaking transportation deal that would forever change freeway gridlock in the state. Three law enforcement officers from different cities and branches of the government are tasked with finding out who did it. They soon discover their investigation has much broader and darker implications than they initially thought. Caspar's 52-year-old corpse is found on a lonely stretch of Pacific Coast Highway near Big Sur - satanic symbols etched on his chest. It turns out he had a penchant for rough sex and may have been involved in the occult."

Vince Vaughn is in talks to play the central antagonist (not necessarily the villain or murderer - this is a mystery-based series after all) on the second season of HBO's "True Detective," while "Mad Men" star Elisabeth Moss is being eyed for the female lead and "The Killing's" Michelle Forbes is in contention for a key role on the show, TheWrap has learned.

Colin Farrell is nearing a deal to star, while Taylor Kitsch is the frontrunner to play the younger male lead, as TheWrap first reported.

HBO had no comment on casting decisions.