True Detective names second season lead

Actor Colin Farrell will star in the second season of True Detective. Photo / Getty Images

Colin Farrell is officially set to return to his TV roots after signing on to star in the second season of the hit crime drama True Detective.

The Phone Booth star will take on a lead role in the next run of the anthology series, which debuted to critical acclaim earlier this year.

"I'm doing the second series. I'm so excited," Farrell tells Ireland's Sunday World newspaper.

The Los Angeles-based actor admits he knows few other details about the upcoming production but he is grateful to be able to remain close to home during the shoot.

"I know it will be eight episodes and take around four or five months to shoot," he says.

"I know very little about it but we're shooting in the environs of Los Angeles which is great. It means I get to stay at home and see the kids."

The first season of the show featured Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as troubled police detectives investigating a 17-year-old murder case. But Farrell and a new set of co-stars are set to take over True Detective in a whole new storyline for season two.

Vince Vaughn and Taylor Kitsch have also been linked to the project in recent months.

Farrell scored his big breakthrough in the late 1990s after starring in BBC drama series Ballykissangel, which was set in his native Ireland. He last appeared on the small screen in a 2005 episode of US medical comedy Scrubs.

- WENN