While most television shows lucky enough to get a second season build on the events of the first, that isn't the case with FX's "Fargo." We saw most of the show's cast of characters meet an untimely end in the first season, so instead of bringing popular characters back from the dead, show writer Noah Hawley will be wiping the slate clean with a brand new "Fargo" adaptation for the show's second season. It will be complete with brand new characters, a new time period and a new crime.
An adaptation of the 1996 Coen brothers' film "Fargo," the television series captured the mood and atmosphere of the film but delivered a new story in snowy North Dakota. Season two will do something similar, though perhaps without the same level of star power.
Hawley, who is also an executive producer on the show, told a TV Critics' panel that season two will still take place in North Dakota, but this time in 1979, with a younger version of Keith Carradine's Lou Solverson character. Hawley said he may experiment with weather for season two, starting the season in the winter and transitioning to spring and summer.
FX Chairman John Landgraf said the decision to find a brand new cast wasn't an easy one.
"It was heartbreaking from my standpoint because I loved the characters," says Landgraf. "But I don't think we felt that we could reincarnate these actors as new characters."
Landgraf talked specifically about the need for an actor of the same star power as Billy Bob Thornton, who headlined the show's first season, going on to say that the show will succeed with relative unknowns like season one's Allison Tolmans, who is Emmy nominated for her role.
"We needed him (the first season), but now Noah's proven he can write something really good," Landgraf says. "The writing, the style - they're the stars here. We'd be very happy to have a movie star, but I don't think we need it. I think we'd do very well with a cast of unknowns, of Allison Tolmans."
Landgraf compared "Fargo" to HBO's "True Detective" series, saying that HBO is going to have to prove the show is more than just a vehicle for movie stars. Hawley, however, has "already proven he can write something really great," Landgraf says.
"Fargo" season two will premiere on FX no earlier than fall 2015 with 10 episodes. The show's first season is nominated for 18 Emmy Awards.
