HBO has released four character posters for the second season of "True Detective," and with them a brief Q&A with creator Nic Pizzolatto, who reveals the story isn't what we were initially told.

While the author said last fall that the new chapter in his crime anthology would focus on “hard women, bad men and the secret occult history of the United States transportation system,” at least part of that has changed.

"There’s definitely bad men and hard women, but no secret occult history of the U.S. transportation system," Pizzolatto said. "That was a comment from very early in the process, and something I ended up discarding in favor of closer character work and a more grounded crime story. The complexity of the historical conspiracy first conceived detracted from the characters and their reality, I felt, and those characters are ultimately what have to shape the world and story. So I moved away from that."

Starring Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams and Taylor Kitsch, the eight-episode season follows three cops and a career criminal who must navigate a web of conspiracy following a murder.

“True Detective” returns June 21 on HBO.