Addressing attendees during a panel on Friday at the four-day ATX Festival celebrating television in Austin, Texas, this weekend, Fargo producer Noah Hawley says that season 3 may be the last season for the anthology series.
“I wasn’t sure if there would be a second season,” Hawley said during the panel. “I wasn’t sure if there would be a third season. At end of season 1, [FX] said, ‘If you want to leave it there [that would be fine].’ 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. So watch the 10th hour [of season 3] because it might be the last.”
Hawley made the announcement on Friday during a Fargo panel moderated by Dan Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter. Joining Hawley in the panel were John Cameron (Director/EP) and actor Michael Stuhlbarg.
It’s not the first time that it’s been suggested that this could be the final season of the anthology series. In an an interview with The Hollywood Reporter at the end of May, FX Networks CEO John Landgraf made similar comments.
There may never be another Fargo. Unless Noah has an idea for Fargo that he thinks he can make as good as the prior three. I think once people get to the end of this [season] they will find that it is thematically different. It’s really about the moment we live in now.
Hawley adapted Fargo, the Coen Brothers’ Oscar-nominated movie, as a television series for FX a few years ago and the series arrived to critical acclaim. Set in 2006, season 1 aired in 2014 and starred Billy Bob Thornton, Alison Tolman, Colin Hanks, and Martin Freeman. The first season took home three wins at the Emmys (Outstanding Miniseries, Outstanding Directing and Outstanding Casting) and recieved another fifteen nominations.
The second season was set in 1979 and followed to television in 2015. Season two starred Kirsten Dunst, Patrick Wilson, Jesse Plemons, Jean Smart, and Ted Danson. Season two saw eight nominations at the Emmy Awards.
With a year off, the third season arrived this year and is set in 2010. It premiered in April and stars Ewan McGregor, Carrie Coon, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Goran Bogdan and David Thewlis.
With the series having come to a potential end, Hawley could be freed up to work on his other FX show, Legion.
Fargo currently airs Wednesdays at 10 pm on FX.
EW originally reported the news.