Vince Vaughn stars in “True Detective”

It was widely considered one of the best TV shows to grace screens in 2014, lauded for everything from its direction to its writing to its ensemble cast. Now, "True Detective" is back for a second season -- premiering Sunday, June 21, on HBO -- and the looming question is: can it live up to season 1?

A BAFTA Award, a Critics' Choice Television Award, five Emmys, two Television Critics Association Awards, two Writers Guild of America Awards and a handful of other wins. Four Golden Globe nominations, six other Emmy nominations, three Satellite Award nominations and the list goes on. "True Detective's" first season was a phenomenal success for HBO and series writer-creator Nic Pizzolatto, so expectations remain high for the newest iteration of the show ("Bustle's" entertainment reporter Nick Romano called it "unthinkable ... that round two will fall flat").

The challenge, however, for Pizzolatto is to keep it fresh, exciting and just as captivating as season 1. It seems like it shouldn't be all that hard to accomplish -- it is an anthology series, after all, with new characters and a new story each season -- but it was the performance of stars Matthew McConaughey ("Dallas Buyers Club," 2013) and Woody Harrelson ("No Country for Old Men," 2007) that, arguably and almost undoubtedly, really vaulted the series into elite TV territory. (It's hard to argue with the 10 total "Best Actor"-type nominations between the two for various prestigious awards, including the Emmys and Golden Globes.)

Removing those two lends to the idea that maybe the show will deflate a little, but in true HBO fashion, season 2's cast is just as high profile and quickly quashes the thought that, at the very least, the acting won't be up to snuff.

Golden Globe winner Colin Farrell ("In Bruges," 2008), Taylor Kitsch ("The Normal Heart"), Rachel McAdams ("Midnight in Paris," 2011) and Vince Vaughn ("Wedding Crashers," 2005) all headline season 2 of "True Detective," and they're the kinds of names you'd expect to see in movies, not TV.

"That's the power of HBO," Farrell, who plays compromised detective Ray Velcoro, said in an interview with "Glamour" magazine. "They only source the sharpest, savviest writers. They get the best, and then actors gravitate to that. ... They used to say that film is the way forward and television is a step back, but it's not that way any more."

Of course, the acting can only take you so far, and as Farrell alluded to, a show's writing is key to creating a stellar work of TV art. Pizzolatto has two Emmy nominations to his name for season 1 of "True Detective," as well as two Writers Guild of America wins, and he's got the praise and admiration from season 2's cast as well.

"I sat down with the writer-creator, Nic Pizzolatto, and we spoke for, like, five hours," Farrell said. "He's an extraordinary writer, he's incredible at what he does."

Rachel McAdams in “True Detective”

"The writer and creator of ["True Detective"] is just tremendous ... and it's been a lot of fun," Vaughn told Ellen DeGeneres when he visited her show in May. "The characters are very interesting, very complicated. It's a really interesting story; the twists and stuff are terrific."

It's not only the story and cast that'll be different in season 2; a few of the elements that made season 1 so dark and intriguing have also been dropped for this version. The occult themes and gothic horror feel of the show (that you get from being set in Louisiana) are completely gone, as California serves as the setting for season 2.

"These new landscapes have their own unique voice and their own unsettling qualities," Pizzolatto told HBO. "While there’s nothing occult in this season, I think there’s a disconcerting psychology to this world, and its characters have other kinds of uncanny reality with which to contend."

Also gone is some of the structure that provided the basis for season 1, such as the split timeline, where part of the story took place in the '90s and the other part played out in the present day, and the partner relationship between the main characters. It's something Pizzolatto said grew organically as he fleshed out the new story while also trying to consciously make sure it wouldn't be a copy of season 1.

"We were conscious of not wanting to repeat ourselves or remake the same album in a different setting, but I try to be open to whatever structure the story and characters suggest," he said in the HBO interview. "As the characters multiplied and their individual and group complications grew, a more integrated and linear structure [for the season] worked best. And there was the conviction that if we were to do something entirely new, then we shouldn’t lean on past conceits, but really build from scratch."

Build from scratch, they did. After a first season that saw the acclaim and accolades roll in in droves, "True Detective" has a big challenge ahead of it for season 2: can it repeat the successes of season 1? With a whole new cast and a whole new story, season 2 of the hit crime drama "True Detective" premieres Sunday, June 21, on HBO.