Fargo fans don’t need me to explain just how busy series creator and showrunner Noah Hawley is. Knee-deep in production on the Alien series and potentially screenwriting a Doctor Doom film for Marvel Studios (he didn’t seem too sure), fans of the FX series have had to wait for new installments of the anthology series spun-off from the Coen Brothers 1996 film. Season 5 arrived after a three-year hiatus, mostly delayed due to Alien, as Noah Hawley explained during an ATX TV Festival Q&A following a screening of the Season 5 premiere episode, "The Tragedy of the Commons."
(Steve DeMent/ATX/FX)
Alien is an ambitious undertaking, and it quickly became apparent to Noah that he would be deeply involved for about four years before audiences would get to enjoy the series. He didn’t want Fargo fans to have to wait that long for another installment, but it also took half of that time for a great idea to come to him. Once it did, he was determined to find a way to squeeze it into the production schedule on Alien. Noah Hawley began writing Season 5 in March of 2023, and filming started the following November (its release was further delayed due to schedule changes caused by the Hollywood strikes last summer).
Each season of Fargo has tapped into current events in some way or another. For example, Season 4 (released in 2020) explored the intersection of race and American identity in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Noah Hawley’s intentions aren’t to be political but to make a statement about the way things are using the past as a lens. So for Season 5, the intention was to tap into the present-day problems of people feeling emboldened to be their worst selves, both online and in person. And this tied back to one of the film’s signature themes, “Minnesota Nice.” In Noah Hawley’s view, the Fargo film is ultimately about the tragedy of failing to communicate, a theme that has grown increasingly more poignant.
Set in 2017, the idea for Season 5 features many parallels to the film, which were by design. In fact, from a production design standpoint, Noah Hawley asked the team to try to match Dot Lyon’s living room as closely as possible to Jean Lundegaard’s from the film for the kidnapping scene in the first episode. Noah Hawley felt that, after four seasons, he had earned the right for the series to intersect more directly with the film. Viewers may have even noticed a few shot-for-shot homages to the film in that sequence, which Noah described as his own way of playing the Telephone game with the Coen Brothers.
Another Coen Brothers homage from Season 5 can be found in the season’s final 15 minutes, which pays tribute to the ending of No Country for Old Men in which Carla Jean refused to play Chigurh’s coin toss game for her life. In Fargo, this was translated as Ole Munch returning to Dot to settle her “debt” and the way she uses “Minnesota Nice” to change the game.
Regarding the season’s epilogue, set 500 years in the past, Noah Hawley revealed that this was originally intended to be a prologue. It was written at the top of Episode 1 and even filmed as part of that shoot. But when screening the first episode’s cut, it was confusing. Noah kept trying to find a spot for it throughout the season, discovering that it ultimately worked best as a tag. Hawley doesn’t consider it supernatural, instead preferring the term “extranormal,” which also has a home in the fabric of the Coen Brothers’ filmography in films like The Man Who Wasn't There, which featured a UFO that found its way into Season 2 of Fargo.
While the wait for a potential Season 6 of Fargo is expected to be lengthy, Noah Hawley was honest about the perk of his position with FX. Essentially, he doesn’t have to do more if he doesn’t want to, but if and when he’s ready, FX is on board for more. There are real-world realities that he has to work within, including the ever-changing landscape of TV production and budgets, but he’s essentially the king of the Fargo castle, and he doesn’t take it for granted.
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