At a time when great anthology TV shows are more prevalent than ever, many of FX’s best TV shows in particular fall under that category – Fargo, very much included. Inspired by the classic 1996 film of the same name (and one of the best Coen brothers movies), each season of this crime drama tells a different chilling, violent, and even morbidly funny tale – the latest of which is well on its way.
So, what exactly does this new story of ordinary people getting themselves wrapped up in grave circumstances entail and when will it take place this time? We will surely reveal that and more in our following breakdown of all there is to know about Fargo Season 5 below.
What Is The Fargo Season 5 Premiere Date?
Fans of this criminally good series can be thankful to know that they can mark down Tuesday, November 21 on the 2023 TV premiere schedule as the night Fargo Season 5 begins at 10pm/9c, according to FX’s official website. As per usual with the network’s original programming, the new set of 10 episodes will be made available to stream with a Hulu subscription (Hulu is presently the home of the first four seasons).
Fargo Season 5 Follows A Housewife Whose Past Comes Back To Haunt Her
When FX first announced Fargo Season 5 in 2022, a press release vaguely teased the plot with the question, “when is a kidnapping not a kidnapping, and what if your wife isn’t yours?” A little more than a year later, more explicit details of the new story were revealed on FX’s official website involving a character named Dorothy “Dot” Lyon. The seemingly typical, Midwestern woman finds herself forced to confront a torrential moment in her life that she has managed to keep hidden from her benevolent husband, Wayne, until unforeseen circumstances bring those secrets to light.
Hot on Dot’s trail for years is a ruthless lawman named Roy Tillman, whose inability to trust his otherwise loyal son, Gator, forces him to enlist the help of a mysterious drifter known as Ole Munch to finally find her. Meanwhile, Dot’s disapproving mother-in-law, Lorraine – who is the CEO of a major debt collection service – makes a surprising decision to call on her company’s attorney, Danish Graves, to aid her son’s wife after her behavior attracts even more attention from the authorities. However, Lorraine may have ulterior motives that Dot will also have to contend with.
Fargo Season 5 Will Be Set In 2019
FX’s initial announcement of the next installment of Fargo also confirmed that the new season would take place in the year 2019. While most certainly a recent date in time, it still must feel pretty nostalgic for some people knowing what comes a year later. Regardless, it makes this story the series’ most contemporary tale yet.
The debut season of Fargo followed an insurance salesman’s destructive path after meeting a violent hitman in 2006, and Season 2 – in which a couple attempt to hide a fatal hit and run – was a prequel taking place in the late 1970s. The third installment, starring Ewan McGregor as two brothers in a bitter rivalry, fast forwarded a bit later into the 21st Century, and the Chris Rock-led Season 4 is a mafia noir set in early 1950s Missouri.
Juno Temple, Jon Hamm, Joe Keery, And Others Are In The Fargo Season 5 Cast
The Fargo Season 5 cast is upholding the series’ tradition of employing ensembles of acclaimed talent. The ensemble this time includes Emmy-nominated Ted Lasso cast member Juno Temple as Dot Lyon and Emmy-winning former Mad Men star Jon Hamm as North Dakota Sheriff Roy Tillman. Academy Award nominee and Coen brothers movie vet Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hudsucker Proxy) plays Lorraine, and starring as her son Wayne is Oppenheimer actor David Rysdahl.
Starring as Roy’s son Gator is Stranger Things star Joe Keery, alongside English actor Sam Spruell (known for Snow White and the Huntsman and Legend) as “Ole Munch” and Lamorne Morris of Hulu’s Woke and New Girl cast fame as Roy’s deputy, Witt Farr. Another cop from Minnesota named Indira Olmstead is played by Richa Moorjani, who is best known from the Never Have I Ever cast on Netflix, and playing Lorraine’s lawyer and advisor Danish Graves is Dave Foley – known for his Emmy-nominated work on The Kids in the Hall and voicing Flik in Pixar’s underrated ‘90s movie, A Bug’s Life. We also know from Variety that Lukas Gage – known from shows like Euphoria and movies like Assassination Nation – will appear in a recurring role.
A Trio Of Fargo Season 5 Promos Tease The Main Characters
FX has a fun specialty of promoting its original series with short, cryptic clips that actually will not appear in the final product before unveiling the first full-length trailer. So far, the network has put out two of these teasers offering a glimpse at who the Fargo Season 5 will portray.
One in which Juno Temple interrupts her cooking to answer the door with a bat and taser in hand proves the British actor has the Midwestern accent down. Another shows Joe Keery struggling with his hiding skills behind a hay bale. The third clip features Jon Hamm's lawman strolling into a diner like he owns it before asking who he has to kill for service.
Noah Hawley Returns As Showrunner For Fargo Season 5
As FX’s website also confirms, Noah Hawley is returning to lead the creative team behind Fargo Season 5. The filmmaker, who has also written and directed a number of episodes himself, previously earned an Emmy in 2014 when the first season won the award for Best Miniseries that year.
Hawley began his career as a writer for the Fox procedural Bones before creating two short-lived ABC dramedies – The Unusuals in 2009 and My Generation the following year. FX was also home to his acclaimed, X-Men-inspired series Legion, which he ended in 2019 – the same year he made his feature-length directorial debut with Lucy in the Sky. Hawley is currently working on another FX series based on a classic movie: a prequel to Alien.
Warren Littlefield Returns As Executive Producer, And Steve Stark Joins For Fargo Season 5
Also returning to his executive producer position for Fargo Season 5 is Warren Littlefield of The Littlefield Company, which has also backed acclaimed hit series like The Handmaid’s Tale and Dopesick on Hulu. Littlefield also served as the President of NBC from 1991 to 1998, during which time he oversaw the creation of many memorable titles ranging from Friends to ER.
Also sharing an executive producer credit is Steve Stark – the former president of MGM/UA Television who has produced the likes of NBC’s Medium and, for Netflix, Vikings: Valhalla and director Tim Burton’s Addams Family spin-off, Wednesday, starring Jenna Ortega. In 2021, he launched his own production company, Toluca Pictures, through which he will be involved with Fargo Season 5.
Joel & Ethan Coen Also Executive Produce Fargo Season 5
Of course, what would Fargo be without the involvement of the brothers who started it all with the Oscar-winning film that helped continue their impressive Hollywood track record? Credited as executive producers since the series began in 2014 are Joel and Ethan Coen – despite not having any control over the stories or creative interest in the series’ episodic structure either, as Joel revealed to Radio Times in 2016.
The duo behind several other classics – including Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski – achieved Oscar glory once more after making Fargo in 2008 when they won awards for directing, adapting, and producing the Best Picture Oscar winner, No Country for Old Men. More recently, the brothers have worked on their own solo projects, with elder brother, Joel, directing Apple TV+’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, starring Denzel Washington in the title role, and Ethan helming the upcoming 2024 movie Drive-Away Dolls and a documentary about Jerry Lee Lewis to be released by A24 eventually.
Fargo Season 5 Has Not Been Confirmed As The Final Installment
We do not want to be “jumpin’ to conclusions” here as there is nothing from FX that confirms Fargo Season 5 as the series’ curtain call. Yet, a proper way to end the show has been on developer Noah Hawley’s mind, as he revealed to Vanity Fair in June 2021.
It seems as if Hawley was still mapping out the plot of Fargo Season 5 at that time and was tinkering with the idea of giving it a finale that would end the series on a high note. As mentioned, FX has not announced Season 5 as the final season, so that may not be the case. However, if it were to be the last season, at least it is comforting to know that the person responsible for bringing it to television has a conclusion in mind.
Clearly, there is plenty more that will be revealed about Fargo Season 5 once it premieres. However, is it not the mystery that keeps you intrigued? Ya, you betcha!
