Well, here’s a thing: up and coming actress Adria Arjona has joined the cast of the hotly (understatement) anticipated second season of HBO’s megahit of existential crisis and creepy murder, True Detective.

Recently cast in a leading role in Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer’s TNT drama pilot, Arjona joins a cast well underway but noticeably lacking in a confirmed female lead. Rachel McAdams was mentioned in a Variety profile as having been offered the role, but so far everyone has remained mum on the confirmation front.

So maybe she’s in it, but also maybe not. Who knows at this point — we’ve all been thrown for such an emotional loop as far as the series’ females are concerned. Going from an allegedly lady-fronted season to falling back on its old tropes has caused a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for us TV writers. Thus far, the women characters cast have been described as a “girlish but practical girlfriend,” a “survivor of a sexual attack,” and a “former showgirl continually sucking on cigarettes and margaritas as she mourns the loss of male sexual attention. What little of her hopes remain she has transferred onto her adult son, who, in her eyes, is God’s gift to women.” So, uh, cool? That last one also happens to be Taylor Kitsch’s character’s mom.

Three cheers for complex, richly nuanced, real female characters that aren’t wholly defined by how they relate to the men in their lives! Oh wait.

Maybe we’ll all be pleasantly surprised, though! No reason not to hold out hope, right? We’re eternal optimists to a fault, after all.

Are you looking forward to True Detective‘s second season? Let us hear it in the comments.

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