‘Fargo’ Season 2 Adds Kirsten Dunst & Jesse Plemons as Headliners
“Fargo” may not have blown the doors off the shed with today’s SAG nominations, but its announcement may end up overshadowing any news out of awards season today. FX has cast Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons in lead roles for the second season of their hit miniseries.
Dunst will play Peggy Blomquist, “a small town beautician with big city dreams who is trying to figure out who she really is and what she really wants as she struggles with traditional societal expectations. She shares her home with her husband Ed (played by Plemons), a butcher’s assistant, who wants to be supportive of his wife’s self-discovery, even if he doesn’t quite understand it.”
The new season of “Fargo” will take place in Laverne, MN, Sioux Falls, IA, and, of course, Fargo, ND. Set in 1979, the series is set to revisit an incident policed by Lou Solverson (Keith Carradine) in Sioux Falls before he retired and opened a diner in Fargo. The actor will not be returning, given that the show takes place nearly 30 years prior to the events of Season 1, and casting has yet to be announced for the younger version of the character.
Though Dunst worked on multiple episodes of “ER” as a teenager and appeared on an episode of “Portlandia” this year, “Fargo” will mark her debut as a series regular on TV. The actress has gone through a bit of a resurgence of late, drawing praise for her performance in Lars von Trier’s 2011 drama “Melancholia” as well as the 2012 VOD comedy hit “Bachelorette.” Both marked career acting highs for a star most widely known for her appearances in the original “Spider-Man” trilogy, and now she’s looking to extend her hot streak by joining one of the best series on TV.
Plemons has been an up-and-comer since fans first flocked to his character, Landry “Lance” Clarke, on “Friday Night Lights.” Since, he’s appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master,” “FNL” developer Peter Berg’s action extravaganza “Battleship,” and snagged a memorably dark role in the last season of “Breaking Bad.”
“Fargo” announces its Season 2 cast a little more than two weeks after “True Detective” finalized its own. Though both shows have passionate fans who often like both series, the two will be forever linked as warriors: FX tried and failed to land Nic Pizzolatto’s cop drama, and thus pursued “Fargo” even harder. Now, with critics’ Top 10 lists rolling in left and right, a conversation is building around which show had the better debut season. The quality of Season 2 may be the deciding factor in which show was built to last, and these closely-released casting announcements will only build fervor. “True Detective” is expected to be released sometime in 2015, while “Fargo” Season 2 won’t be on the docket until late 2015, if not 2016.
So which casting news excited you more: Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams, or Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons? (Though in the end, it’s a good thing that TV fans don’t have to choose between them.)
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