Earlier this week we received confirmation that two of the lead roles in the upcoming second season of HBO’s True Detective had been cast. Colin Farrell will play Ray Velcoro, a compromised detective who is caught between the whims of a corrupt police force and a brutal mobster, while Vince Vaughn has signed on to play Frank Semyon, a long-time criminal attempting to go legit when his business partner is murdered. A couple of other prominent roles in the new season still had yet to be cast, including the female lead. The shortlist of names under consideration had been growing by the day with Elisabeth Moss, Malin Akerman, Jamie Alexander, Oona Chaplin, Rosario Dawson, Kelly Reilly, Jessica Biel and Brit Marling all supposedly up for the part. Now it appears that they have instead settled on one of the very first actresses first mentioned as a possibility: Rachel McAdams.

According to Variety, Rachel McAdams is currently “locking down” the female lead role in True Detective Season 2. Apparently she managed to sidestep some scheduling issues with her upcoming film Spotlight, Thomas McCarthy’s drama about the Catholic Church sex scandal. Little is known about her role except that she will supposedly play a cop alongside Colin Farrell and (potentially) Taylor Kitsch who is still not 100% confirmed.

People are apparently saying that McAdams’ character will be the one that is the most comparable to Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle from the first season of the show. I have no idea what that means, but it’s hard to imagine Rachel McAdams playing a darker character. I’ve never been a huge McAdams fan but she did surprise me in A Most Wanted Man, so perhaps this will be exactly what she needs to take her career to the next level. What do you think about the latest True Detective casting announcement?