‘Fargo’ Will Have A Second Season? U-Betcha! Will You Recognize It? Nope

The first season of Fargo – the television series based on the Cohen Brothers movie of the same name – was a smash success for the FX cable network. Fargo was nominated for 18 Emmy’s, and that’s more than any other FX show in the network’s history.

With that great of an opening season, shelving Fargo was out of the question.

However, you’re not going to recognize the new season of Fargo. For one thing, there will be all new characters in season two. For another, there will be an all new cast, an all new setting, and an all new crime to follow in Fargo’s sophomore year.

For still another, season two of Fargo won’t even be in the remotely same time period as season one.

Yes, you read that right. Season two is actually going to be a prequel of sorts. Deadline reports that season two of Fargo will actually take place in 1979. The setting for Fargo’s second season will be moving to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

“If you were paying attention to season one, we made a lot of references to Sioux Falls,” show creator Noah Hawley said yesterday.

Hawley continued, talking about Fargo’s season two time period of 1979:

“That time period is interesting – post-Vietnam, post-Watergate… the best of America versus the worst. That sense, I think, that this war had come home with people, and the violence and brutality of it. Lou Solverson went to Vietnam and came home, but now he’s come back and it’s here – it’s domestic.”

As fans of the Fargo television series know, the character of Lou Solverson was played by Keith Carradine in season one of Fargo. In season two, the character will be just 33 years-old and played by another actor. Carradine played the father of Fargo’s season one star, Molly, played expertly by Allison Tolman, who will unfortunately not back for season two. A younger Lou character will give us an opportunity to meet Molly’s mom in Fargo’s second season, and according to Film School Rejects, we’ll even get to see a very young Molly – at the approximate age of four.

When asked what the official name of Fargo’s second season will be, Hawley said, Fargo: Backlash. (No word on whether or not Hawley was just speculating.)

After announcing that FX had ordered a second, ten-episode season of Fargo, FX Networks CEO John Landgraf defended the idea of starting from scratch – new setting, new characters, new actors – in season two.

“Fargo demands a different level of realism, and we felt we couldn’t introduce these actors [from season one] as new characters.”

While the first season tied into the Fargo film, the film’s events took place in 1987. While it’s not out of the question that season two of Fargo could somehow fit into the events of the Fargo film, taking place in 1979 makes it unlikely.

What do you think about the all new cast, characters and setting of the second season of Fargo?