One of the most intriguing new series to air on cable this year will be Fargo, FX’s adaptation of the Oscar-winning film from Joel and Ethan Coen. Although that bleak mystery-comedy is a modern classic, the Coens (who are executive producers for the series) have helped to assemble a pretty great TV ensemble, including Martin Freeman, Bob Odenkirk, Kate Walsh, Oliver Platt, Allison Tolman, Colin Hanks and Keith Carradine.
Leading the cast is Billy Bob Thornton in the role of Lorne Malvo, a manipulative hitman who becomes caught up in a crime in that small North Dakota town. FX popped a brief 30-second teaser for Fargo online today, which shows little more than Malvo scraping off some snow from his car’s front windshield. Yes, the character is so badass that he has to scrape the snow off his car instead of using his wipers.
Thornton, with a penetrating glare, is almost unrecognizable in the footage, while the use of The Ames Brothers music in the background gives the scene a small-town feel that fans of the Coen Brothers know well.
Meanwhile, Comedy Central duo Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele have been confirmed to join Fargo‘s cast for a four-episode arc in its first season. The stars of the hit sketch series Key & Peele will play FBI partners Bill Budge and Webb Pepper, respectively, who decide to hunt down Malvo after a violet run-in with the criminal. The beloved sketch comics will hopefully provide some levity to some of the darker mayhem – and also put something on the small screen that is not the same pale shade of that North Dakota snowfall.
2014 has already been a banner year for detective shows, with the return of Sherlock and the success of HBO’s True Detective. With a solid cast and the Coens working behind the scenes, Noah Hawley’s FX series should be another mystery show to watch this spring.
Fargo will begin chilling on the small screen on April 15.