In 'Sugar’ season two, Colin Farrell reprises extraterrestrial detective role

Colin Farrell's character, John Sugar, a lone extraterrestrial detective, navigates a darker Los Angeles in the second season of the film noir series "Sugar".

Colin Farrell ​is donning his tailored suit for a second ​season of the Los Angeles-based film noir ‌detective series "Sugar.”

The ​new season follows a major reveal from season one: John Sugar, Farrell's character, is an extraterrestrial living on Earth. "He's the only one of his species ‌that's left on the planet, so he's feeling the burden and the weight and the sorrow of that as well," Farrell told Reuters.

"That leads into a little bit of honesty. It also leads him down some dark avenues ‌and some euphoric avenues with regards to violence and human desire," the Irish actor added. Season two takes ‌a darker turn through Sugar’s latest case: searching for Ji Moon, played by Raymond Lee, the brother of boxer Danny Moon, played by Jin Ha.

The mission draws Sugar deeper into Los Angeles’ criminal underbelly. "We do get to touch on and explore and show the ⁠kind of culturally ​kaleidoscopic aspect of this ⁠city. And it's one of the things that I love about it, having lived here now for nearly 25 years," Farrell said.

Among ⁠the new faces is femme fatale character Charlotte, played by "Outlander" actor Laura Donnelly. "I had lots of those actresses in the ​back of my mind, you know, kind of Lauren Bacall, Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Rabbit, you know, just sitting ⁠in the back of my mind, kind of how they move, how they play, how they play with their femininity," Donnelly said.

Farrell ⁠said ​the show has improved from season one, when he was a "nervous wreck" amid incomplete scripts. "We hadn't got all the scripts, to be honest, in place when we started shooting. So, it was a bit of ⁠a building-the-plane mid-flight scenario,” the three-time Golden Globe winner said.

Improvisation remains part of the production. "It's become a part ⁠of this process that ⁠I'm involved in, in the creation of what Sugar is going through, and it's just an utter joy to play in that sandbox," Farrell said.

The Apple TV ‌series returns with ‌season two on Friday.