‘Fargo’ Season 2 Will Be Set in 1979, Executive Producer Says

Second season of FX drama will explore the world of a young Lou Solverson, Noah Hawley reveals

Billy Bob Thornton stars in FX's Fargo

Aw geez; “Fargo” is heading for the disco era.

The second season of FX’s Coen Brothers adaptation “Fargo,” which was renewed Monday, will take place in 1979, series executive producer Noah Hawley said at the Television Critics Association.

The second installment will also feature a young Lou Solverson (played by Keith Carradine in the first season), as a 33-year-old newly arrived home from the Vietnam war.

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“That time period is really interesting in American history; post-Vietnam, post-Watergate, just before Ronald Reagan became president,” Hawley said, saying that the series could depict Lou Solverson coming home from the war and, instead of leaving the war behind as he thought, find it continuing on the domestic front.

Alas, the time-warp will mean that Allison Tolman — the breakout star who played savvy cop Molly Solverson on the first series — will not be returning.

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“I spoke to Allison Tolman this morning and told her that unless she can channel her four-year-old self,” she wouldn’t be in the second season, Hawley said, calling the fact that she wouldn’t be back a “crime.”

To that end, Hawley said that he’s opting not to follow the model of bringing back cast members as different characters that Ryan Murphy established with FX’s “American Horror Story.”

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“It gets hard to look past the actors,” Hawley said. “I like the idea that the character comes first and the actors are able to disappear into the role.”

Where the first season of “Fargo” drew from the Coen Brothers films “Fargo,” “No Country for Old Men” and “A Serious Man,” the sophomore run will be inspired by “Fargo,” “Miller’s Crossing” and “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” Hawley said.

“So let the internet speculation begin,” the producer joked.

“Fargo” Season 2 will be set in Fargo, Luverne, Minn., and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Production on the second season will begin in January, executive producer Warren Littlefield said.

While the cold will play a major part in the second season, as it did in the first, both Hawley and Littlefield suggested that the season could begin in winter and continue into warmer weather.

“Believe me, we would do ‘Fargo’ in Honolulu if we could get away with it, but we can’t,” Hawley said.

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