SEASON 4 A GO FOR FARGO
No word on film location yet
No story or timeline has been revealed, nor are there any ironclad guarantees it will be shot in Alberta, but it looks like there will be a fourth season of Fargo after all.
The news came at the Television Critics Association press tour late last week in Pasadena, when FX CEO John Landgraf told journalists that a fourth season of the Emmy-winning, darkly comic, crime series will likely air sometime in 2019.
Numerous industry publications, including Deadline and Variety, quoted Landgraf as saying Fargo creator Noah Hawley “has an idea which excites me enormously for a fourth cycle. The plan is to have that ready for 2019. I’m focused on what will come in 2018, but our anticipation is that there’s another cycle in 2019.”
In another session for his other FX show, Legion, Hawley wouldn’t reveal what that Fargo idea is. According to Entertainment Weekly, he did say he was planning on writing a book about Fargo’s first three seasons and was moving cautiously when it came to a fourth.
“It’s still early for me,” he said. “I really love that world. But it’s still very much a question for me of making sure there’s something left to say about it, and balancing tone. I never want it to be something that people go, ‘Oh that thing, it’s the accents and the funny crime show.’ Yeah, it’s still very much a work in progress.”
While this is very good news for fans of the series, for now, there is no official word that Season 4 will be shot in Alberta. Production for the first three seasons was based in Calgary and used a local crew. Michael Frislev and Chad Oakes of Calgary-based Nomadic Pictures have been producers for all three seasons.
A spokesperson for FX told the Herald on Monday that “it’s too early to confirm filming locations for Season 4.”
On the other hand, there is no reason to believe the show will relocate. The principals involved have often had high praise for their experiences shooting in Alberta. During his acceptance speech for a Golden Globe Award on Sunday, Season 3 star Ewan McGregor gave a shout out to the “amazing crew ... up in Calgary.”
In 2015, when Fargo’s return to the province for a third season was not a guarantee, Hawley told the Herald: “We’ve had a great production experience up there for both seasons and have trained our crew and our departments to make the show Fargo and certainly our goal is to come back and do it again.”
Season 3 of Fargo began shooting in January of 2016. The Calgary Film Centre, the village of Beiseker, Bragg Creek and areas of Inglewood, Marda Loop and downtown Calgary were all used as locations.