Attention, Fargo fans: a rare concrete piece of information about the notoriously secretive show’s upcoming season is incoming. The fourth season of the six-time Emmy-winner is officially green lit, and it will be another period piece, this time set in Kansas City, Missouri in the 1950s and starring none other than Chris Rock, TVLine reports.
The plot of the Ewan McGregor and Carrie Coon starring crime anthology series will see Rock play the head of an African-American crime family pitted against an Italian crime family. In a Romeo and Juliet–esque premise, Rock surrenders his oldest son to the Italian family and is thus forced to raise the son of his rival as his own, all in an attempt to keep the peace.
“It’s a story of immigration and assimilation, and the things we do for money. And as always, a story of basically decent people who are probably in over their heads. You know, Fargo,” the official synopsis reads.
“I’m a fan of Fargo and I can’t wait to work with Noah,” Rock said in a statement, referring to Noah Hawley, who will reprise his role as showrunner for the fourth season. He's written 23 of the series' 30 episodes, including the entire first season, which aired in 2014.
This announcement is a significant departure from Fargo’s usual proceedings in a number of ways. Although Rock is the only confirmed cast member so far, it’s still unusual for such a complete synopsis to be released prior to the season’s premiere. Plus, the shift to Missouri will see the show leave the rural upper Midwest setting of Minnesota that it has explored in the past three seasons. The 1950s is also the furthest back the show has gone yet: the first season was set in 2006, the second in 1979, and the third in 2010.
While this news might sound exciting, it’s important to keep in mind that Hawley himself has warned that Fargo's fourth season is most likely coming in the winter of 2020, despite FX boss John Landgraf’s wishes for it to air in 2019.
“I think realistically we will certainly be filming it next year. Mostly just because it’s a winter show. You know, I have to write [the episodes], then we have to prep it, then we have to film it, which means it’s either this coming winter or next winter,” Hawley told The Wrap back in April of this year. “Given my schedule with making a movie and posting a movie this summer, and then gearing up to do more Legion assuming we get a pickup, it seems like a long shot that I can launch Fargo [season] 4 this winter.”
Still, whether it comes in 2019 or 2020, and despite the big changes in pre-season announcements, fans can count on the show sticking to its roots as a gritty crime drama with Coen Brothers–esque humor. “I feel like the only reason to keep telling the story is if I feel I have something more to say about the American experience, really,” Hawley told Collider earlier this year. “Through the credence of a crime show, you know, we’re able to look at things that are very specific to this country.”
