Colin Farrell is psyched for his next big role, that of a cop with secrets in the popular HBO drama True Detective. The network announced that the second series of the show, which will also star Vince Vaughn, premieres in January of 2015, so there’ll be lots of busy days ahead for Colin.

“I’ve only read half of the eight episodes. It’s phenomenal writing, strong writing. It’s all there on the page. Nic Pizzolatto has done an incredible job creating this new world that is a separate time and separate place and has a completely new array of characters than the first season,” Farrell told reporters at last week’s Chicago Film Festival, where he premiered his latest movie, Miss Julie, which co-stars Jessica Chastain.

Farrell has yet to meet his co-star Vaughn, but that will happen sooner rather than later he says. “I’ll go to see him hopefully this week,” Farrell said. “Sit down for lunch or coffee or something.”

The director of Miss Julie, Liv Ullmann, thinks Farrell will be perfect playing the part of Ray Velcoro who, according to HBO’s latest press release, is “a compromised detective whose allegiances are torn between his masters in a corrupt police department and the mobster who owns him.”

“He’s going to bring what I think no one really will expect from him,” Ullmann said, “because he has dimensions which (you seldom see) in a film actor. He shows you good and at the same time he shows you bad.”

In Miss Julie, which is set in Co. Fermanagh in 1890, Farrell plays a valet who is seduced by Chastain’s character, the daughter of his wealthy boss. No word yet on when it will open in other U.S. cities.