Reflecting the show’s underlying themes about the madness and existential insignificance of both life and female characters, True Detective continues to have trouble zeroing in on an actress it wants for its second season’s female lead. Now The Wrap has added seven new names to the mix, adding them to previously reported contenders Elisabeth Moss and Rachel McAdams (and lost hopes like Jessica Chastain), and suggesting that producers remain mindful that this thing we call an “identity” is just an illusion—and therefore just about anybody could be a “tough, no-nonsense Monterey sheriff” with a gambling problem.
Anybody including: Jessica Biel, Malin Akerman, Rosario Dawson, Brit Marling (The East), Oona Chaplin (Game Of Thrones), Jaimie Alexander (Thor), and Kelly Reilly (Sherlock Holmes)—all of them reportedly having received callbacks, all of them representing a fairly wide span of ages, backgrounds, and character types. Despite all this indecision, the second season is still expected to begin shooting this month, possibly with Matthew McConaughey in a wig.