Empire UK

FIRST LOOK EXCLUSIVE!

OP THREE COEN

films go... “It depends”
wavers Fargo
showrunner Noah
Hawley. “Sometimes
you’re in a No Country
For Old Men mood
and sometimes a Big Lebowski mood.
They’re not the same movies you know?”
Indeed one of the countless joys
of Fargo’s first season sprawling across
the snowbound highways of Minnesota
(played by Calgary) was how it channelled
the entire spectrum of Coen with
homages and Easter eggs nodding to
all the films. “That cinematic language
and those references are a part of the
experience of the show” says Hawley.
“This season there’s a little bit of No
Country For Old Men in there” says
Patrick Wilson who plays state police
officer Lou Solverson — the younger
version of Keith Carradine’s worldly
diner-owner. “You’re trying to follow
different criminal syndications to put
different pieces of the puzzle together.”
The prequelesque Season 2 is set
in a 1979 inhabited by a familiar gaggle
of hotheads jabberers strivers flakes
stalwarts and very possibly one devil
incarnate (Hawley won’t say who). As
is the crime story at its perplexed heart
with rival gangs kicking off a local turf
war. Which is kinda Miller’s Crossing too.
Travelling back in time plays to the
idea of history repeating itself and links
subtly to Season 1 also adding another
layer of Coenesque Americana.
“It becomes this little time capsule
from Reagan coming in the oil crisis a
lot of tension about how the US should
fit into the world after Vietnam” says
Wilson. “On the flip side there is this
crazy feminist revolution when you look
at Kirsten’s (Dunst) character.”
Hawley however insists his show
is simple at heart: “Fargo is the best of
America versus the worst of America.” IN

FARGO: SEASON 2 AIRS IN OCTOBER ON

CHANNEL 4.

WE GET THE SKINNY ON
SEASON 2 YAH...

FARGO

THE INSIDE TRACK

Ted Danson

plays Sheriff

Hank Larsson.

“Ted’s the mayor

of television”

says Noah

Hawley. “Always

happy and fast

with a joke. That

goes a long way.”

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