At one stage, it looked like Fargo season three was going to be the end of the show. In 2015, Fargo's showrunner Noah Hawley explained why the cult classic might not return.
"There's only a certain amount of storytelling you can tell in that vein. And I love telling stories in this vein, but I don't have another one yet," he explained.
But, apparently, he’s always felt that way.
"I wasn't sure if there would be a second season. I wasn't sure if there would be a third season. At end of season one, [FX] said, 'If you want to leave it there [that would be fine]'."
In 2017, FX president John Landgraf revealed the network was giving the Fargo creator space to think. "We haven't heard the idea from Noah [Hawley] for what the fourth season would be," Landgraf said. "What we've encouraged Noah to do is think about it and make sure he has an idea he's excited about.
"There's at least some possibility he won't have that idea for quite some time. He has a really busy schedule because he's working actively on the second season of Legion… and he has a burgeoning feature film career… we're going to have to share him with our film studio and we're going to have to figure out how to make that work."
Thankfully, in 2018, Hawley confirmed he’d had that key idea.
"I now have an idea that's less in the corner of my eye and more in front of me. I don't have a lot of time right now to focus on it. What I can say is that it will be another period piece."
Elaborating, Hawley explained: "More and more as I think about telling stories in this vein and what the original film is about, these are really American stories and stories about the American landscape, and the things that people do for money.
"I feel like I have a very interesting and exciting direction to go in. I'm trying to find the time to get it down on paper."
But what direction did Hawley settle on, and when will we see it? We’ve headed out into the snow to investigate with everything you need to know about Fargo season four.
Fargo season 4 air date: When will we see it?
The only thing we know for sure is that it won’t be on telly any time soon.
There is no premiere date set for Fargo's fourth season, but showrunner Noah Hawley indicated earlier this year that it would be a 'long shot' to get it on air in 2019 because of the intense production schedule.
“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," he explained.
So, despite previous promises that it would air in 2019, we’d say winter 2020 is the most likely – which Hawley actually predicted way back in 2017, thanks to his commitments on Legion.
Fargo season 4 cast: Who will be in it?
Fargo casts are generally pretty hard to predict, as each season is a complete reboot. Thank goodness, then, that we’ve had season four’s lead confirmed already.
Chris Rock has been hired to play the head of one of two crime families who settle in Kansas City in 1950, with the season chronicling the cold war brewing within the underworld.
As for who will join him, your guess is as good as ours, but we’d expect to see the very best actors populating the cast. This is Fargo, after all, the show that's attracted Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Kirsten Dunst, Patrick Wilson, Jesse Plemons, Ted Danson, Ewan McGregor, Carrie Coon, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and David Thewlis to its ranks.
Fargo season 4 plot: What will it be about?
This one’s easy, we’ve already seen the full synopsis for the upcoming season, and it sounds ace.
In 1950, at the end of two great American migrations — that of Southern Europeans from countries like Italy, who came to the US at the turn of the last century and settled in northern cities like New York, Chicago — and African Americans who left the south in great numbers to escape Jim Crow and moved to those same cities — you saw a collision of outsiders, all fighting for a piece of the American dream.
In Kansas City, Missouri, two criminal syndicates have struck an uneasy peace. One Italian, one African American. Together they control an alternate economy — that of exploitation, graft and drugs.
This too is the history of America. To cement their peace, the heads of both families have traded their eldest sons.
Chris Rock plays the head of one family, a man who — in order to prosper — has surrendered his oldest boy to his enemy, and who must in turn raise his son's enemy as his own.
It's an uneasy peace, but profitable. And then the head of the Kansas City mafia goes into the hospital for routine surgery and dies.
And everything changes. 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.
Fargo season 4 trailer: When will we see it?
Fargo seasons one and three aired in April, which meant we got trailers in March. Season two was an outlier, airing in October, with the first trailer coming in July.
We’d say season four will most likely fit that pattern, which means we could get our first proper look at the series in July of next year – potentially at San Diego Comic-Con.
Until then, you can reminisce over the last – brilliant – instalment with the trailer for season three, above.
We’ll replace it with the Fargo season four trailer as soon as it officially lands, along with any other news, scoops and rumours. So bookmark this page for all your Fargo season four investigation needs.
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Sam is an entertainment writer with NCTJ accreditation and a twenty-year career as a film journalist.
Starting out as a staff writer at Total Film, moving up to Deputy Online Editor, Sam was responsible for Total Film’s YouTube channel, where he revolutionised the magazine’s approach to video junkets, creating influential formats that spread to other outlets.
He’s interviewed a wide range of film icons, including directors such as David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Ridley Scott, Michael Bay and Sam Raimi, as well as actors such as Meryl Streep, Nic Cage, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Anne Hathaway, Margot Robbie, Natalie Portman, Kermit the Frog, all of the Avengers and many more.
Sam has also interviewed several comic creators, including Stan Lee, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and he has a zombie cameo in The Walking Dead comic.
In 2014, Sam went freelance, working directly for film studios including Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and Disney, as well as covering red carpet events for film marketing company PMA Productions.
Sam is the co-host, producer and editor of the Arrow Video podcast, which has seen year-on-year growth since its creation in 2017, gaining over half a million listens in that time.
His byline has appeared in outlets such as Yahoo, MTV, Dazed, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Good Housekeeping among others.
In 2012, Sam made it to the final of the Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year competition, and went on to become a filmmaker himself, directing three features that have all played major festivals, and secured distribution – starring in two of them.
Jim Carrey once mistook Sam for Johnny Cash, and John Carpenter told him to ‘Keep up the good work.’ He promises to try his best.
