The Emmy-winning crime series Fargo has landed a score of big names for its sophomore season. Loosely based on the Coen Brothers 1996 flick, the first season was a huge hit with fans and critics alike. That favorable response led to FX flashing the green light for season 2, which is now gearing up to go into production shortly.
Adopting the latest small screen trend, the same anthology format employed by True Detective and American Horror Story, the series will wipe the slate clean this season and begin with a new storyline. For this next ‘true crime’ story, events will pick up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Luverne, Minnesota, and the new batch of actors just announced suggest that FX has every confidence in the show’s return.
Leading the show is Patrick Wilson in the role of Lou Solverson, who’s described as “a clean cut Minnesota State Patrolman, four years back from Vietnam, where he served in the Navy. A humble and competent man, Lou is a devoted husband to his wife “Betsy” (yet to be cast), and father to four-year-old “Molly.” Danson has been cast as Hank Larsson, “the Sheriff of Rock County, Minnesota. An unflappable WWII vet who embodies a certain cowboy poetry, Hank is Lou’s father-in-law.”
Rounding out this slew of new additions is Jean Smart, as Floyd Gerhardt, described as “the matriarch of the Gerhardt crime family. She’s stood by her husband’s side for 40 years, but now that he’s out of the picture she thinks it’s her turn to run things.” That’s an impressive haul to say the least.
Wilson, Danson and Smart will be joining recent series’ newcomers Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons, who both recently signed on to play a newly-married couple. Elsewhere on this phenomenal bill, Nick Offerman, Bokeem Woodbine, Jeffrey Donovan, Angus Sampson and Kieran Culkin will also be tackling the wintry locales of this latest mystery.
You can read FX’s brand new extended synopsis for Fargo season 2 below. Check it out and let us know what you think.
The all new “true crime” case of Fargo’s new chapter travels back to 1979 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Luverne, Minnesota, where a young State Police Officer “Lou Solverson” (Wilson), recently back from Vietnam, investigates a case involving a local crime gang and a major Mob syndicate. Helping him piece things together is his father-in-law, “Sheriff Hank Larsson” (Danson).
The investigation will lead them to a colorful cast of characters that includes “Karl Weathers” (Nick Offerman), the town lawyer of Luverne, Minnesota. A Korean War vet, Karl is a flowery drunk blessed with the gift of gab and the eloquence of a true con artist. Three-time Emmy winner Brad Garrett will play “Joe Bulo,” the front man for the northern expansion of a Kansas City crime syndicate. The new face of corporate crime, Joe’s bringing a Walmart mentality to small town America. His number two is “Mike Milligan” (Bokeem Woodbine). Part enforcer, part detective, Mike is always smiling – but the joke is usually on you. Bulo and his crew have their sights set on the Gerhardt crime family in Fargo, currently led by matriarch “Floyd Gerhardt” (Smart).
With her husband at death’s door, Floyd takes over the family business, frustrating her eldest son, “Dodd Gerhardt” (Jeffrey Donovan). An impatient hothead with a cruel streak to match his ambitions, Dodd can’t wait for both his parents to die so he can take over and expand their business from kingdom to empire. “Bear Gerhardt” (Angus Sampson) is the middle son, an intimidatingly large man who, although inarticulate, is the most decent of his clan. “Rye Gerhardt” (Kieran Culkin), the youngest of the Gerhardt clan, views himself as a big shot, but in reality he’s just a small dog who barks big.
