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[Cornballer]

- EW: 'Fargo' season 2 to star Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons

Fargo has filled two big roles for season 2. Kirsten Dunst (Spider-Man franchise, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues) and Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights) have landed series regular roles in FX’s Emmy-winning crime thriller.

In addition, FX announced the second season won’t premiere until next fall and will once again consist of 10 episodes.

Dunst will play Peggy Blomquist, “a small town beautician with big city dreams who is trying to figure out who she really is and what she really wants as she struggles with traditional societal expectations. She shares her home with her husband Ed (Plemons), a butcher’s assistant, who wants to be supportive of his wife’s self-discovery, even if he doesn’t quite understand it.”

Fargo surprised skeptics with a thoughtful and witty crime story that arguably managed to improve upon the Oscar-winning 1996 Coen brothers film that served as its inspiration. The show was nominated for 18 Emmy Awards and won the prize for outstanding miniseries.

Like HBO’s crime anthology True Detective, a show that’s often perceived as Fargo‘s rival, season 2 will tell a completely different story with a new cast. Unlike True Detective, however, Fargo‘s setting is expected to be somewhat similar and the crimes will have a direct connection to the first season.

Season 2 is essentially a prequel and is set in 1979 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Luverne, Minnesota. The story will focus on a young Lou Solverson (not yet cast) — Molly’s father, played by Keith Carradine in the first season, who teased to a harrowing case he experienced while working as a state police officer. In the new season, Solverson is a 33-year-old Vietnam War veteran.

“He thought he left the war behind, but he came back and here it is, it’s domestic,” showrunner Noah Hawley told EW in July. “We will meet Molly’s mother, who was not a character in season 1 … and we’ll learn what happened to her. There were a lot of clues left in the first season and we’ll do our best to hit those.”

Other major open roles include Solverson’s wife, Betsy, their four-year-old daughter, Molly, and fellow officer, Ben Schmidt.

Figured this was worth a new thread.

Note that Lou Solverson will likely be the main lead, and Jeffrey Donovan has been rumored for that role:


- The Wrap: Jeffrey Donovan Joining ‘Fargo’ for Season 2; Nick Offerman Sought for Role

Second iteration of FX's Coen Brothers adaptation will be set in 1979

Jeffrey Donovan is packing his bags for “Fargo,” and Nick Offerman could be joining him.

“Burn Notice” star Donovan is nearing a deal to join the second season of FX's anthology series “Fargo,” while “Parks and Recreation” star Offerman has an offer to join the cast, though he's not currently in negotiations, multiple individuals with knowledge of the castings told TheWrap on Wednesday.

Donovan, whose credits also include “Crossing Jordan” and “Law & Order,” has been cast in the role of Dodd.

The second season of the adaptation of the Coen Brothers’ iconic film will also feature Rachel Keller, who will play the role of Simone in the Noah Hawley-created series. Relative newcomer Keller also stars in the comedy “Hollidaysburg,” opposite Tobin Mitnick.

In addition to the castings of Donovan and Keller, another individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap that Mike Bradecich (“Mighty Med&#8221 and Allan Dobrescu are also in contention for roles in the series, which starred Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Colin Hanks and Allison Tolman in its first season.

A spokesman for FX did not immediately respond to TheWrap's request for comment.

Should Offerman join the cast, he would play the role of Carl. With “Parks and Recreation” preparing to enter its final season, “Fargo” would be an enticing proposition, though he has not yet made up his mind about signing on for the series.

As Hawley revealed at the Television Critics Association press tour in July, the second iteration of “Fargo” will take place in 1979 and feature a young Lou Solverson (played by Keith Carradine in the first season) as a 33-year-old veteran who recently arrived home from the Vietnam war.

Hawley added that the second season will draw inspiration from the Coen Brothers films will be inspired by “Fargo,” “Miller's Crossing” and “The Man Who Wasn't There.”

 

[PerezDeCorcho]

Meth Damon and MJ? Sold.

 

[kris.]

The goddamn Sioux Falls incident. So so so hyped.

 

[Bread]

Nice, Jesse Plemons is a perfect fit. Can't wait for this to come out.

 

[IronRinn]

Jesse Plemons will always be Todd and I will always hate him.

(Still, excited for Season 2. Really loved the first.)

 

[chubigans]

Jesse Plemons will always be Landry and I will always love him.

fix'd

 

[xbhaskarx]

Meth Damon!

 

[Lionel Mandrake]

Really hope Offerman takes the role.

 

[Duress]

Kirsten Dunst was in Anchorman?

 

[Lionel Mandrake]

Kirsten Dunst was in Anchorman?

Had a five second cameo in the second movie.

 

[entremet]

I've always had a crush on snaggletooth.

 

[Bacon]

Jesse Plemons will always be Lance and I will always love him.

(Still, excited for Season 2. Really loved the first.)

fix'd

Fixed again

 

[butalala]

Nice. Gives Dunst a chance to break out the accent from Drop Dead Gorgeous.

 

[Leependi]

TODD

Besides Joffrey, I have never hated a character more.

Should be good though.

 

[Duress]

Had a five second cameo in the second movie.

Ahhh! Okay, she was the siren chick!

 

[dead souls]

Sounds like some good casting so far. I'm looking forward to this.

 

[Lord of Castamere]

Good casting. I'm intersted to see how good this will be without BBT.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

Michael from Burn Notice? Nice.

 

[sixteen-bit]

fix'd

Texas forever.

 

[Niraj]

Sounds good.

 

[Sectorseven]

I wonder how they'll make some connections to the original film, or are they done with those?

 

[Heisenberg]

Any good places to stream Season 1 legally?

 

[Salsa]

did nick offerman take that role that was offered?

he'd be perfect

 

[Cornballer]

Nice. Gives Dunst a chance to break out the accent from Drop Dead Gorgeous.

Yup. Sounds like if she just channels her character from the movie, she'll be on the right track here.

Any good places to stream Season 1 legally?

I don't think it's up anywhere, but I could be wrong on that.

did nick offerman take that role that was offered?

he'd be perfect

No official word on what's going on with Offerman and Donovan.

 

[-griffy-]

No official word on what's going on with Offerman and Donovan.

Donovan tweeted this the other day, seems to imply he's on board.

 

[udiie]

this sounds excellent. still need to finish season 1 though

 

[Delusional Reality]

Luverne MN eh? Are they actually filming there? Because if so, I hope those stars bring their own caterers or get used to diner food.

 

[Cornballer]

Donovan tweeted this the other day, seems to imply he's on board.

Oh, interesting. Thanks. The Wrap seemed convinced that it was a done deal, too. I'm just pointing out that there's no press release from FX yet, and for some reason they didn't include him on today's release.

 

[Buckethead]

Gimme them pancakes.

 

[the black pearl]

excited about Donovan (loved burn notice)

 

[WarrenMax007]

I hope Donovan is playing Lou. Although The Wrap says he's playing Dodd.

 

[Deleted member 325805]

I doubt it'll live up to season one, but if it does....

 

[Dennis]

Hopefully Meth Damon have had time to practice his shooting.

 

[KefkaPalazzo]

After he missed out on that major Star Wars role, i'm glad that Meth Damon is getting some good work.

Still need to watch Fargo though...

 

[butalala]

Has Donovan done anything of note other than Burn Notice? I thought he was a solid lead in that show, but he's hard to get excited about.

 

[rocksteady1983]

Excited! Can't wait for season 2!

 

[Hatchtag]

Hell yeah. Still wondering who they'll get for a villain.

 

[Doug Heffernan]

Excellent, Plemons is a perfect fit.

 

[Death Metalist]

Awww yiiisssss, Matt Demon.

I'm on board.

Spoiler

The shit he did in BB was demonic.

 

[Lionel Mandrake]

Hell yeah. Still wondering who they'll get for a villain.

Sounds to me like we may already have it.

Dunst's character sounds a bit like Frances McDormand's character from Burn After Reading mixed with Billy Bob Thornton's from The Man Who Wasn't There. And her husband is a butcher's assistant? That would be a useful job for any would-be murderers.

I think Dunst's character is going to break bad and Plemons is going to try to help her stay out of prison and make things worse. This is complete speculation based on vague casting news, but it sounds within the realm of possibility.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Meth Damon and Mary Jane! Great additions to the cast.

 

[Cornballer]

- THR: 'Fargo' Showrunner Noah Hawley Talks Season 2 Casting

"There are still some big roles we haven't filled yet," says Hawley. "You always hope that five Golden Globe nominations will help you do that. It's a bigger cast this time. It's a more ambitious, but right at the heart of it is this married couple. Kirsten's name came up very quickly. And, for me, there was no one else other than Jesse. I don't write with actors in mind, but as soon as I started thinking about it... that combination tells a story. That's critical in casting."

One of the bigger yet-to-be-cast roles is the young Carradine. And Hawley, who's already in Alberta prepping for filming in mid-January, also concedes that the original seed for Lou Solverson's story was a bit of an accident.

"It was really just a story to give him a point of reference," he says. "The more I thought about it, the more I thought, 'That's fun. Let's tease that.' It's not like I'm sitting around now thinking about what I'm going to do after this one. I'm just thrilled that another story came to me that I thought was as good."

More via the link.

 

[Moff]

yup, many people guessed that it would be about sioux falls.
not too bad, and I'm looking forward to see kirsten dunst.

 

[IronRinn]

- THR: 'Fargo' Showrunner Noah Hawley Talks Season 2 CastingMore via the link.

Really like his idea of the entire premise of the show and the movie:

"I always had this image in my head of some old, leather-bound book with hand-drawn illustrations that was published in the 50s," he said. "It's like The History of True Crime in the Midwest. The movie was a chapter from it, and our first year was a chapter from it."

 

[Escape Goat]

Nice. Gives Dunst a chance to break out the accent from Drop Dead Gorgeous.

Now they need Alison Janney to show up.

 

[hodayathink]

Now they need Alison Janney to show up.

Or Amy Adams.