Here's everything we know about Fargo season 3...
Editor's note: This article is our news hub for Fargo season 3 and will be constantly updated to reflect new information.
Fargo Season 3 Latest News:
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is enjoying a second wind to her acting career. Her performance in the surprise (literally a surprise) hit 10 Cloverfield Lane earned her rave reviews. She also landed a lead role on CBS’ summer zombie fare, BrainDead, and is now positioned to join the cast of FX’s Emmy magnet, Fargo, so long as shooting schedules don’t conflict.
THR reports that Winstead will play Nikki Swango, “a crafty and alluring recent parolee with a passion for competitive bridge playing. She is a woman with a plan who is focused on always being at least one move ahead of her opponents.” The role on Fargo is contingent on Winstead’s availability. If BrainDead is picked up for a second season and Fargo’s shooting schedule conflicts, then she’ll only do the CBS drama.
Also joining Winstead in Fargo season 3 is Scoot McNairy, who currently stars in AMC's Halt and Catch Fire. McNairy will have an unspecified recurring role.
Here's everything else we know about Fargo season 3...
Fargo Season 3 Cast:
Fargo has delivered impressive casts so far and continues to do so for season three.
Carrie Coon will play the female lead in Fargo season 3, Variety reported. The Midwestern series created by the Coen brothers consistently writes great parts for the lead women. Allison Tolman played Molly Solverson in Fargo season 1. Kirstin Dunst was nominated for a Golden Globe for her turn as the ambitious housewife Peggy Blumquist in the second season.
In the FX anthology series, Carrie Coon (Gone Girl) will play Gloria Burgle, “a practical woman who grabs the fire extinguisher when the bacon catches fire and everyone else panics,” according to the official synopsis. “Gloria is the chief of the Eden Valley police, and a newly divorced mother, who is struggling to understand this new world around her where people connect more intimately with their phones than the people right in front of them.”
As for the male lead, Fargo’s producers like Ewan McGregor so much that they’ve cast him twice.
The former Obi-Wan has been cast in the starring role of FX’s anthology drama to play a pair of (non-twin) brothers. Via EW, here’s McGregor’s character description:
“Emmit Stussy is the Parking Lot King of Minnesota. A handsome, self-made, real estate mogul and family man, Emmit sees himself as an American success story. His slightly younger brother, Ray Stussy, on the other hand is more of a cautionary tale. Balding, pot-bellied, Ray is the kind of guy who peaked in high school. Now a parole officer, Ray has a huge chip on his shoulder about the hand he’s been dealt, and he blames his brother, Emmit, for his misfortunes.”
McGregor’s involvement marks yet another film actor making the medium crossover to television, where FX seems to be the popular landing spot.
Fargo Season 3: What We Know So Far
With all the rave reviews, it's no surprise that a Fargo season 3 was coming from FX. While we gushed over the season two finale, we're already looking forward to what Fargo season 3 has in-store.
When it came to the question of whether or not a Fargo season 3 would happen, FX has essentially given the answer, “Oh, yah.” The network has already taken the step to officially renew the series for its third season, making the annoucement mid-way through season two.
With the ratings of Fargo solid and steadily rising (averaging an accommodating 1.2 million viewers; a number that’s usually boosted heavily by DVR viewers), the renewal should come as little surprise. Of course, the trio of 2014 Primetime Emmy wins for outstanding miniseries, casting, and directing certainly didn’t hurt the show’s chances, either.
The series was adapted from the original 1996 Fargo film, which nabbed key Oscar nominations for writers Joel and Ethan Coen. However, the television adaptation manifested nearly two decades later on FX in June of 2014. The inaugural season focused on a semi-contemporary setting (2006) which saw the arrival of a drifter played by Billy Bob Thornton (in a Golden Globe-winning performance), who injected his brand of insidious, murder-inciting influence on the small town Bemidji, Minnesota. Names like Martin Freeman, Colin Hanks, Allison Tolman made up the primary cast, along with an impressive array of recognizable guest stars.
Amazon Deals: Buy Fargo Season 1
Season 2 revealed the series’ anthology-like nature, dialing the Fargo mythology far back in time to 1979 in the greater Minnesota-area setting. There, a hit-an-run death caused by a young couple played by Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons became the inciting incident for the heavily-accented murderous intrigue of the sophomore season, which premiered on October of 2015. The second season also co-starred Patrick Wilson, Jean Smart and Ted Danson. Like its predecessor, the second season also featured myriad guest stars, including, most notably, Bruce Campbell as a fantastically random, pre-presidential depiction of Ronald Reagan.
Fargo Season 3 Plot:
Series creator Noah Hawley is already mapping out the direction for the critically acclaimed drama from FX.
In a conference call, Hawley, along with FX president John Landgraf, said that Fargo season 3 is set in 2010 (four years after season 1) and will center on the "selfie-oriented culture” we currently live in. We’ll ignore the fact that “selfie” only really came into the pop culture lexicon in the last 2-3 years because Hawley and crew just capped off an impressive sophomore campaign.
"I like the idea what we're now living in a very selfie-oriented culture... it feels like a social dynamic that is very antithetical to the Lutheran pragmatism of the region," Hawley said. "So many of our crime stories are based on the difficulty that people have expressing themselves and communicating... I like the idea of setting up these pragmatic and humble people against the culture of narcissism and [seeing] what that generates for us, story-wise."
Then, at the TCA 2016 press tour, Landgraf all but confirmed that at least one former character will be returning to the action. Landgraf told EW:
"As far as I know there is one [character] returning. That doesn't mean [series creator Noah Hawley] might not change his mind and there might not be more."
Fargo Season 3 Release Date:
There's no exact date for the Fargo season 3 premiere just yet. We do know that fans will have to wait for Hawley’s “selfie.” He confirmed that Fargo won’t be back until spring 2017, due to the show’s winter setting. Shooting is set to begin in November 2016.