In a recent interview with Vanity Fair regarding his upcoming Alien TV series, Fargo creator, showrunner, and director (of 4 episodes) Noah Hawley dropped some information about his plans for the FX series Fargo. While no official word has been announced by FX, he hinted that IF there was a 5th season, it would likely be Fargo’s last.
When Vanity Fair asked Noah Hawley if there was going to be a season 5, he replied,
“Yeah, I think so. I don’t have it yet. I have pieces that will have to survive. They’re not connected. I think it would be good to create an ending, and deliberately come to something, knowing it’s the last one and see how one might wrap up this anthology. What’s next for me, it looks like, is [an] Alien series for FX, taking on that franchise and those amazing films by Ridley Scott and James Cameron and David Fincher. Those are great monster movies, but they’re not just monster movies. They’re about humanity trapped between our primordial, parasitic past and our artificial intelligence future—and they’re both trying to kill us. Here you have human beings and they can’t go forward and they can’t go back. So I find that really interesting.”
Fans were shocked the show returned for season 4 after a three-year gap between Seasons 3 and 4.
Chris Rock and Jason Schwartzman star in season 4 of the anthology series, which follows two warring 1950 Kansas City crime families. This was the first time Fargo filmed in Chicago; past seasons shot in Canada..
Fargo filming was based at Cinespace Chicago Film Studios on the West Side. The show filmed in the city and the suburbs with several spots made to look like they belong in the 1950s.
A home in the 1900 block of West Lunt Avenue in Rogers Park was transformed into a mortuary run by a character played by singer-songwriter-violinist and Lake Forest native Andrew Bird. Olde Western Avenue in Blue Island serves as the show’s main thoroughfare, with businesses such as Spud’s All Time diner, Denton Dry Cleaning and Morton’s Liquor (where beer is 15 cents). Filming also took place at Union Station and in the Uptown area, Old Norwood Park neighborhood, Oak Park and Riverside.
Fargo was inspired by the 1996 Oscar-winning feature from Joel and Ethan Coen of the same name and is based in the same fictional world. Spanning from the 1950s up to the 2000s, each of the four seasons has in some way connected to one another, the most recent being the reveal that Loy Cannon’s (Chris Rock) son Satchel, grows up to be Bokeem Woodbine’s mobster Mike Milligan from Season 2.
Fargo has earned 6 Primetime Emmy awards, 2 Golden Globes, and has been nominated for 222 awards total, between Season 1 and Season 3. Season 4, which debuted in September 2020, has received considerably less acclaim and experienced a drop of over 50 percent in viewership more than likely because of the 3 year gap between the previous season.
News of whether or not the FX series will continue to film in Chicago will likely be announced when season 5 is confirmed officially.
All 4 seasons of Fargo are available to stream on Hulu.
