The third season of the American black comedy crime drama television series Fargo, billed as Fargo: Year Three and Fargo: Installment 3, aired on FX from April 19 to June 21, 2017, totaling ten episodes. The series is an anthology about violent crime in the American Midwest, with each season acting as a self-contained story within the show's shared continuity. This season takes place in Minnesota between late 2010 and early 2011, and depicts a sibling rivalry between parole officer Ray Stussy and real estate mogul Emmit that spirals into a series of murders around the area. The situation is further exacerbated by Emmit's involvement with V. M. Varga, a shady businessman who uses his vast resources to exploit the ensuing chaos.
The season was produced by FX Productions and MGM Television, with Noah Hawley serving as showrunner. The writers used the more contemporary setting to explore the Digital Age, the effects of late-stage capitalism, and the spread of disinformation in an era of post-truth. Like the previous seasons, Year Three was filmed in Calgary, Alberta in early 2017. Ewan McGregor leads the season's main cast in the dual role of Ray and Emmit Stussy, and stars alongside Carrie Coon, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Goran Bogdan, and David Thewlis. Michael Stuhlbarg, Hamish Linklater, Olivia Sandoval, Shea Whigham, Mark Forward, Mary McDonnell, Graham Verchere, Scott Hylands, Linda Kash, Caitlynne Medrek, and Scoot McNairy all make recurring appearances.
Fargo: Year Three was praised by critics, primarily for its social commentary, directing, and performances, particularly from McGregor and Thewlis. It received various accolades, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie or Special for composer Jeff Russo, and the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film, both for McGregor.
Cast Main Ewan McGregor as brothers Emmit and Raymond "Ray" Stussy. Emmit is a wealthy, happily married man and the self-proclaimed "Parking Lot King of Minnesota". Younger brother Ray is a financially struggling parole officer who feels betrayed by Emmit over the way their father's inheritance was divided between them, when Ray got his father's Corvette and Emmit got a valuable stamp collection. McGregor also voiced the Captain, the android Minsky's scientist companion, in the episode "The Law of Non-Contradiction". Carrie Coon as Gloria Burgle, a dedicated police officer and police chief of Eden Valley until the department is absorbed by the county. She is trying to solve the murder of her stepfather, Ennis Stussy. Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Nikki Swango, a crafty and alluring young woman with a passion for competitive bridge. She is a recent parolee and Ray's fiancée. Goran Bogdan as Yuri Gurka, a Ukrainian man working for V. M. Varga. David Thewlis as V. M. Varga, an unscrupulous British businessman with whom Emmit unwillingly finds himself in a partnership. Thewlis also voiced a member of the Federation of United Planets in the episode "The Law of Non-Contradiction".
Recurring
Guest stars
Billy Bob Thornton, who starred as Lorne Malvo in the first season, narrates Peter and the Wolf in the fourth episode, "The Narrow Escape Problem".
Episodes
Production Casting Ewan McGregor was cast in the male lead dual role as Emmit and Ray Stussy, and Carrie Coon plays the female lead role, Gloria Burgle. In September 2016, Mary Elizabeth Winstead was cast in a major role as Nikki Swango, while Scoot McNairy in a recurring role. In November 2016, it was announced that Jim Gaffigan had joined the main cast in the role of Donny Mashman, Gloria Burgle's partner. However, it was later announced that Gaffigan would not appear in the season due to scheduling conflicts. Mark Forward was later cast to replace him as Mashman, and Mashman's role in the story was reduced. In December 2016, several new actors joined the cast, including David Thewlis, Michael Stuhlbarg, Shea Whigham, Fred Melamed and Thomas Mann.
Filming Filming began in early 2017 in Calgary, Alberta, where the previous two seasons were also filmed.
Regarding filming with Ewan McGregor while he is portraying dual roles, co-star Mary Elizabeth Winstead said, "For some takes, I was standing with Ewan's double and for some takes, I was standing with Ewan." She added, "Watching how the doubles interact with him and have to learn his way of walking and his posture and his way of standing was interesting. They make it feel very natural and grounded and real. They're reading the lines and the scenes are existing as they would regularly, just swapping out the people. Which is somewhat strange, but it still doesn't feel like you're doing a trick of any sort."
Visual style As with the previous two seasons, the third season had a visual style, achieved through color grading by removing the blue channel. Noah Hawley described the technique, saying "So you take the blue channel on the digital image and you just dial it out. And what you end up with is a very distinctive look in which colors like red and orange and yellow; they just really pop in a different way. Usually in cold weather you add blue, because blue denotes cold. So it was interesting to take the blue out and see what it did to the image. And once we did that it became clear that it doesn't look at all like any of the other years, which I really liked."
Reception
Reviews The third season has received acclaim from critics. On Metacritic, it has a score of 89 out of 100 based on 32 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 93% rating with an average score of 8.5 out of 10 based on 225 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Thanks in part to a memorable dual performance from Ewan McGregor, Fargo mostly maintains the sly wit and off-kilter sensibility it displayed in its first two seasons."
Accolades
In addition to the 6 Emmy nominations listed below, the series earned an additional ten nominations in various technical and creative categories. Ceremony Category Nominee(s) Result 33rd TCA Awards Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries, and Specials Fargo Individual Achievement in Drama Carrie Coon (for Fargo and The Leftovers) 69th Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series Fargo Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited/Anthology Series or Movie Ewan McGregor Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited/Anthology Series or Movie Carrie Coon Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited/Anthology Series or Movie David Thewlis (Episode: "The Narrow Escape Problem") Outstanding Directing for a Limited/Anthology Series Movie Noah Hawley for "The Law of Vacant Places" Outstanding Writing for a Limited/Anthology Series or Movie 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards Outstanding Casting for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special Rachel Tenner, Jackie Lind, and Stephanie Gorin Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited Series or Movie Dana Gonzales ("The Law of Vacant Places") Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Limited Series or Movie Regis Kimble ("The Law of Vacant Places") Curtis Thurber ("The Narrow Escape Problem") Henk van Eeghen ("Aporia") Outstanding Makeup for a Limited Series or Movie (Non-Prosthetic) Gail Kennedy, Joanne Preece, Amanda Rye, and Danielle Hanson Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special Jeff Russo ("Aporia") Outstanding Hairstyling for a Limited Series or Movie Chris Glimsdale, Judy Durbacz, Penny Thompson, and Eva Blanchard Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special Kurt N. Forshager, Joe Bracciale, Martin Gwynn Jones, Brent Pickett, Claire Dobson, Robert Bertola, Alex Bullick, Tyler Whitham, Matt Decker, and John Elliot ("Who Rules the Land of Denial?") Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Limited Series or Movie Martin Lee, Kirk Lynds, Michael Playfair and Michael Perftt ("Who Rules the Land of Denial?") 22nd Satellite Awards Best Actor in a Drama / Genre Series Ewan McGregor Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Film Ewan McGregor 8th Critics' Choice Television Awards Best Limited Series Fargo Best Actor in a Movie/Limited Series Ewan McGregor Best Actress in a Movie/Limited Series Carrie Coon Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Limited Series David Thewlis Best Supporting Actress in a Movie/Limited Series Mary Elizabeth Winstead 75th Golden Globe Awards Best TV Movie or Limited Series Fargo Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film Ewan McGregor Best Supporting Actor – Miniseries or Television Film David Thewlis Producers Guild of America Awards 2017 Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television Fargo American Cinema Editors Awards 2018 Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television Andrew Seklir ("Who Rules the Land of Denial?") 54th Cinema Audio Society Awards Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Television Movie or Mini-Series Michael Playfair, Kirk Lynds, Martin Lee, Michael Perfitt 5th Location Managers Guild Awards Outstanding Locations in a Contemporary Television Series Robert Hilton 44th Saturn Awards Best Action-Thriller Television Series Fargo For the award nominations, see For the award winner, see Best Actress on Television Mary Elizabeth Winstead
References
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