Fans of Fargo will have a longer wait than usual for season three, for the same reason Game of Thrones is being delayed. After six seasons of “Winter is coming,” winter is finally here, meaning the show can’t be filmed until conditions are colder. The same goes for Fargo. As explained by creator Noah Hawley: “It’s a winter show, for better or worse, and this winter [2015], there is not time to shoot another year before this winter is over.” So, they weren’t filming when they should’ve been, and now it’s sunny so they’ll have to wait another year.
Luckily, this gives Hawley time to work on his new Marvel Comics-based show Legion, set in the X-Men universe, about two schizophrenics who fall in love and confront the possibility that the voices in their head are real. The show has been picked up for 8 episodes to air in 2017, and has an impressive cast including Fargo’s own Jean Smart, Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens, and Parks and Rec’s Aubrey Plaza.
This doesn’t mean that development of Fargo’s third season is completely on hold until winter. They’re still writing and casting. Continuing the tradition of oddball characters with oddball names, Ewan McGregor has been cast to play the two lead roles: twins Emmit and Ray Stussy.
Emmit has been described as a self-made real estate mogul and family man, while Ray is less successful, a balding parole officer (which will no doubt lead to the crime element of the story) who peaked in high school and blames his brother for his shortcomings.
This week, Carrie Coon was cast in Season 3. Coon, who is known for her supporting role in Gone Girl and was recently snubbed by the Emmys for her stunning turn as Nora Durst in HBO’s The Leftovers (the best and least watched show on TV, which returns for its third and final season next year), will play Gloria Burgle, a quick-thinking single mother and police chief of the town.
This season will take place in 2010 (season one was set in 2006 and season two in 1979), making it the closest season so far to the present day.
This is surely so that modern technology can play a large role in the story, although I can’t speculate how. The original Film that the show takes its cues from was released long before the iPhone was invented and the Internet had consumed everyone’s lives, so perhaps this time leap is to integrate that in some way. Hawley has stated before that he’s very keen to avoid the show repeating itself, so it makes sense they would choose to tackle an untouched topic.
Being set four years after the first season opens up season three to the possibility of returning characters. Whereas similar shows like True Detective avoid creating links between its standalone seasons so they can exist as their own stories, Fargo’s seasons are all chapters of one giant story.
Season two is based on an anecdote told in season one, and Patrick Wilson’s character in Season 2 is the father of Allison Tolman’s character in Season 1. So, it’s very possible that we could see some familiar faces pop up next year. Of course, it would have to be someone who didn’t die in the first season, which sufficed to say, this being Fargo, leaves them with very few options.