A Look at the True Detective S2 Trailer Through the Eyes of Someone Who Doesn’t Realize It’s a Whole New Story

The first teaser-trailer for the second season of True Detective came out yesterday, and with the show set to premiere on June 21, now seems like a good time to start asking what it all means. Many people thought that season one resolved all the major story lines, but those of us who were paying close attention know that several questions were left unanswered. Who was the yellow king, really? What happened to the other members of the cult? What’s next for Rust Cohle and Marty Hart?

Well, the season two trailer is finally here, and we can start to see what’s next for the Louisiana gang. Let’s see what we can learn through a second-by-second analysis. First, re-watch the teaser-trailer to familiarize yourself:

Now, we’ll take a look at what some of these images might mean for season two.

0:01

Okay, our very first image is of a highway, and that is NO accident. Take a closer look: What shape do the roads make? That’s right—deer antlers. This is a brilliant touch from director Cary Fukunaga, because not only does it show that the murders will continue even after the death of Errol Childress, but that the cult has “taken its show on the road,” so to speak. Where will they hit next? It could be anywhere.

0:07

This, for me, might have been the most exciting moment of the entire trailer. Rust Cohle is back, baby! And he’s really young! I’ve been racking my brain for how an even younger Cohle will fit in to the second season, and my best guess is that we’re going to see him in his Texas days, when he was a tortured undercover narcotics agent. It remains to be seen what that means, exactly, but it’s pretty cool to see that Nic Pizzolatto is using the time dash technique again. And credit goes out to the makeup artists who completely transformed Matthew McConaughey for season two—he looks so young here, but it’s still undeniably the same person. Kudos.

0:13

And there he is! Old Rust Cohle, still puffing on those Camels. I think the biggest question for most hardcore True Detective fans, myself included, was how Cohle would look after he gets out of the hospital. Here we have our answer: His hair’s a little darker, but otherwise he’s the same grim, philosophizing, hardscrabble rogue we saw in season one. Clearly, his optimism has waned a bit, but it’s clear he’s still fighting the battle against darkness. I have to say, though, I never thought I’d see him in a suit jacket again, even a drab one!

0:20

The landscape was a huge character in season one, and this shot proves that Fukunaga will continue to create the show’s visceral, ominous atmosphere by using these sprawling looks at the natural and industrial ecosystem. Here, we see a Gulf Coast oil refinery, which can look from above like a normal town. Based on this and the shot of the highway, it’s reasonable to speculate that the new yellow king will be intricately involved in the transport of oil. What better excuse to travel the country, or to cover your tracks?

0:23

Our first new character! There’s no telling who this guy might be, but he’s got a sinister face, and he seems to be standing in front of a mysterious map. It’s hard to tell what that landmass is in the background, but I have a theory. Take a look at this map of Louisiana parishes, and tell me if anything sticks out. Did you see it yet?

Take another look at the lower right-hand corner, where you’ll find Plaquemines Parish. Now imagine it was turned clockwise just a few degrees—looks a lot like the piece of land behind our new guy, doesn’t it?? Whoever this person is, his suit places him as the respectable face of the evil operating in the state, and you can bet he has some dark plans for Plaquemines Parish.

0:25

Now, I wouldn’t swear my life on this, but doesn’t that woman look like Lisa, Marty’s seductive girlfriend from season one? Granted, she’s slightly older and her hair is dyed, but keep in mind that we’ll be jumping back and forth in time just like last year. If it is Lisa, the obvious question is why she’s in the audience listening to the Plaquemines Parish pitch from the potentially evil oil man.

There’s no immediate explanation, but consider this: What if Lisa wasn’t content to let Marty go about his life after their affair? What if she wanted revenge? What if she spent years becoming wealthy and respectable with the end goal of perpetrating the type of crime that Marty had fought his whole life against? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and the new, merciless Lisa might become the kind of enemy Marty just can’t shake.

0:38

Maggie is a cop now.

0:48

Does this shot look at all strange to you? No? Well jump back two seconds in the trailer and tell me what you see. The answer is, “old Rust Cohle wearing a green jacket.” The very next thing we see, above, is young Rust Cohle in the same place, with the same lighting. And on the left side of the screen, we see the same green jacket of old Rust Cohle. There’s no getting around this insane revelation: both Rust Cohles exist at the same f***ing time!

One of the most famous lines from season one was, “time is a flat circle,” and it looks like Nic Pizzolatto is finally putting his money where his mouth is—one of the two Cohles has traveled in time, and for True Detective fans, this is like a dream. I’ve always wanted to see both versions of Cohle team up to fight crime, and it looks like it’s finally happening.

0:52

If you’re like me, you got to this point of the trailer and said to yourself, “wait a second…we haven’t seen Marty Hart yet!” Well, here he is, and the big stunner is that he’s wearing a ski mask like a common criminal. In season one, it was Rust Cohle who had to mix with criminal elements, and even pretend to be one of them, in order to crack the case. This time, it looks like Hart is the one who has to get his hands dirty, and you can bet he doesn’t like it. You have to wonder if he’ll be forced to kill the same person he had loved in season one: Lisa. Love and hate are just two sides of the same coin, and there’s no telling what lengths Marty will go to in his fight for justice.

0:54

The very last image we see is Marty shushing us, as if to say, “don’t tell anyone that I’m about to pretend to be a criminal in order to infiltrate this oil crime syndicate and finally catch the yellow king once and for all.” Your secret’s safe with us, Marty, but don’t keep us waiting too long!

I can’t be the only one who’s now even more excited to follow some of television’s greatest characters for ten more episodes—June 21 can’t come fast enough.