Why Is ‘Fargo’ Not Returning Next Year?
It’s been a good year for FX’s Fargo. Season 2 just came to an end this past Monday night; the series is being discussed by many critics as one of the best of 2015; and it has been nominated for three Golden Globe awards, including Best Miniseries. But unfortunately, Fargo won’t be seen in 2016.
It’s not that Fargo has been cancelled. Even though Variety reported that ratings took a bit of a dip during its sophomore year, Fargo has been renewed for a third season. It’s just going to be more than one year until anyone can return to Fargo.
According to the Calgary Herald, Fargo creator Noah Hawley explained that he already has a plan for the third season. Unfortunately, it’s not going to hit the airwaves until the spring of 2017. And the reason for the long delay is because Hawley is not going to have time to begin filming the next season of Fargo in order to get it out by next year. Since Fargo takes place during the winter time, Hawley and company are going to have to wait until roughly November of 2016 in order to begin the filming process.
#Fargo season three will premiere in 2017 with a new cast and setting https://t.co/xDITzZXYqr pic.twitter.com/g6scIhVjQ2
— Variety (@Variety) December 16, 2015
Hawley mentioned that, while Fargo is taking all of 2016 off, it will give him and the crew time to work on the scripts.
“I think one of the strengths of the show is that we separate the writing from the production and we really take the time and we write the whole story and write eight of the 10 hours at least and we end up there knowing exactly what we’re doing and exactly what the whole story is.”
Hawley also noted that the first episode of Fargo Season 3 has already been written.
Did you hear the news about FARGO today? https://t.co/NNwVPy6abb pic.twitter.com/3ToVSgYDPK
— Indiewire (@indiewire) December 16, 2015
When Fargo first aired, the setting was 2006, which is after the events of the Coen brothers movie on which it’s based. This most recent entry of Fargo jumped back in time to 1979 and sort of served as a prequel in the sense that there were younger versions of certain characters. Hawley confirmed that the third season of Fargo will take place in 2010, but he’s also going to approach it differently.
“Our first year was set in 2006 but we didn’t really deal with what it was like to be in that region in a more contemporary world and I like the idea that we’re now living in a very selfie-oriented culture where people photograph what they’re eating and put it up for other people to see.”
Since Fargo Season 3 will take place after the first, does that mean there will be any actors reprising their roles? One of the characters that had been brought into question about returning to the Fargo world was Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman), of whom we saw a younger version in the second season. Hawley noted that there could be connections to the previous seasons of Fargo in some way, and some characters could be featured again, but in minor roles. However, bringing back characters and making them the center of a different story is a risky move for a series like Fargo.
“I don’t think we can say that, two years later, Molly gets a phone call and you’ll never believe what happened and here we go again.”
Along with being nominated for Best Miniseries, Kirsten Dunst and Patrick Wilson have also been nominated for their performances in this season of Fargo. Last year, Billy Bob Thornton won for his performance in Season 1, and Fargo beat out another critical and viewer favorite, True Detective, for Best Miniseries.
How do you feel about Fargo being delayed one whole year?
[Image via FX]
