True Detective Season 2: Vince Vaughn and Colin Farrell Confirmed by HBO

HBO has at last confirmed that Vince Vaughn and Colin Farrell will star in the second season of smash hit crime drama True Detective.

After months of speculation and long after Farrell and Vaughn were first linked to the show HBO have finally confirmed the news, as well as confirming that Fast & Furious director Justin Lin will direct the first two episodes.

A synopsis was also released, confirming a previous report leaking aspects of the plot and its lead characters.

"Three police officers and a career criminal must navigate a web of conspiracy in the aftermath of a murder," reads the brief synopsis.

Farrell will play Ray Velcoro while Vaughn is set to play Frank Semyon.

The details, which leaked in August, mentioned both Farrell, Vaughn and the characters they are playing, which means that the third character - a woman that may well be played by Rachel McAdam or Elizabeth Moss - is called Ani Bezzerides.

Bezzerides is described as "a tough, no-nonsense Monterey sheriff whose troubled upbringing has driven her to gambling and alcohol."

HBO's official character bios for Semyon and Velcoro are as follows. Velcoro is "a compromised detective whose allegiances are torn between his masters in a corrupt police department and the mobster who owns him."

While Semyon is "a career criminal in danger of losing his empire when his move into legitimate enterprise is upended by the murder of a business partner."

The leaked report also mentions a third male character - whom Taylor Kitsch was in line to play at some stage - called Paul Woodrugh, "a handsome 28-year-old military veteran."

True Detective is set to air next summer on HBO and on Sky Atlantic in the UK.