FX really lucked out with Noah Hawley’s Fargo miniseries. Though the project, inspired by the Coen Brothers’ dark comedy classic of the same name, seemed like a deeply risky proposition on paper, it arrived fully formed as a tremendously acted, evocatively shot and winningly ambitious ‘event’ series. That the show has scooped up 18 Emmy nominations this year, more than any other show has managed in the network’s history, should speak to its massive success. So, it wasn’t at all surprising to learn that FX had picked the show up for another season of ten episodes.
Excitingly, though, we’re now getting plot details about the second season long before we ever could have hoped we would. Speaking at the Television Critics Association press tour, Hawley revealed that the second season would explore the infamous Sioux Falls incident that was discussed but never detailed throughout Fargo‘s first season. That means the show will be jumping back in time, seeing as that event occurred in 1979. Hawley teased:
“We will meet Molly’s mother and we may learn what happened to her. Ben Schmidt [Peter Breitmayer’s series one police lieutenant] will factor in there somewhere… There were a lot of clues left in the first season and we’ll do our best to hit those.”
Expect Molly’s father, Lou Solverson, to serve as the series’ protagonist – though the character will be 33 years old in the second season and will not be again played by Keith Carradine. In fact, none of the actors from the first season will be returning, said Hawley, though he didn’t rule out returns for characters from season 1 in the presumed third season.
In season 2, Lou is recently back from fighting the Vietnam War, and according to Hawley:
“He thought he left the war behind, but he came back and here it is, it’s domestic.”
The cinematic inspirations for the first season of Fargo were the Coen brothers films Fargo, No Country for Old Men and A Serious Man, as any viewer can confirm. According to Hawley, the second season’s inspirations will be Fargo, Miller’s Crossing, and The Man Who Wasn’t There.
The second season’s setting has also been confirmed – Fargo will take place in Sioux Falls, Luverne and Fargo.
FX expects to begin airing the second season of Fargo in the fall of 2015. We’ll keep you posted when we hear more.