PRICE OF SUCCESS
‘Fargo’ creator Noah Hawley faces challenges for season two
With an Emmy on the shelf and now five Golden Globe nominations in his pocket, “Fargo” creator Noah Hawley admits the world has a different glow than it did, say, a year ago. “This is a show that probably shouldn’t have even been made,” he says with a laugh. “So for it to achieve these heights is both satisfying and daunting.”
Hawley has always acknowledged that his idea of creating a TV series in the spirit of the Coen brothers’ 1996 black comedy initially sparked widespread skepticism.
After a couple of episodes, though, he says, “I didn’t hear that any more, because people recognized we weren’t trying to remake ‘Fargo.’
“To me, ‘Fargo’ isn’t a place, it’s a state of mind. It’s a true-crime case where the truth is stranger than fiction and good people have to face something horrible.”
The show also seemed to please his bosses at FX, who renewed it for a second season that Hawley is now writing. The second season will be a prequel of sorts. It’s set in 1979 and will feature younger incarnations of some characters we met in the 2006 setting of the first season.
Accordingly, none of the first-season actors is returning, which will disappoint fans of breakout star Allison Tolman and Colin Hanks, whose characters eventually got married.
“I wish I could have brought them back,” says Hawley. “But there was just no way to do it. I’d like to see Allison everywhere. She’s a national treasure.”
Tolman admits she “hoped to the very last min
ute that Noah would find a way to make it work. Right up until he called to say he couldn’t.
“I was disappointed. But I completely understand. So now I’m just a fangirl — and I can’t wait to see the new season.”
Instead, Tolman expects to be filming a movie next spring. “It’s a horror comedy,” she says. “My two favorite genres.”
She and Hawley both note that the second “Fargo” season will face very different expectations.
“Last year no one was expecting much, so we were able to sneak up,” says Hawley. “That won’t be the case now. We won’t be the underdog any more.
“On some level it’s third-party validation,” he says. “An Emmy (for best miniseries) is nice to have. Mostly I’m happy for the cast.”
Tolman says she remembers the precise moment when someone first raised the possibility the show could score some awards.
“It was around the third week of shooting,” she says. "We were out to dinner with some of the producers, and one said, you know, with awards season coming up, we’ve got a chance.
“I almost choked on my wine, because it was the first time I’d heard anyone say something like that. Seriously?”
She also says with a laugh that awards shows could be a very easy habit to slip into.
“The first thing I did when I heard about the Golden Globe nomination was email my stylist,” she says. “That’s the fun part, picking a dress.”
Hawley says awards nominations and general critical praise have a practical value beyond professional recognition. “Winning an Emmy probably guarantees the audience will be bigger the second season,” he says. “And to have this validation makes my job as a storyteller easier.”
Award nominations are a good recruiting tool, too.
“When we’re looking for actors,” Hawley says, “we can point out that all four of our leads got both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. That doesn’t mean I can guarantee it for everyone, but it certainly doesn’t hurt.”
For the second season, which will begin to film early next year, the leads will be Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons, whose history respectively includes being Spider-Man’s girlfriend and the alpha psycho on “Breaking Bad.”
Hawley got the idea for the second season about halfway through the first one, he says, and he doesn’t yet have any specific outline for a third. But if FX orders one and the right idea comes along, he’s game to try. It’s all worked out pretty nicely so far.