Chris Rock has been cast on the fourth season of Fargo — but will the series still shoot in Calgary? That’s the question as news broke Friday about Rock’s casting at the TCA press tour in Beverly Hills.
During his always enlighterning executive session, FX Networks CEO and president John Landgraf tried to provide a little more information about the fourth season of Fargo. Asked if Rock would assume the same odd way of taking associated with “Fargo” the movie and often on the TV-spin-off, Landgraf said that question could only be answered by series creator and showrunner Noah Hawley (who was not at this TCA gathering).
“He and Chris will be the ones that sort of figure that out,” said Landgraf, who added that “Noah really wanted to work with Chris, reached out to him, sat down, had lunch with him, told him about the part and about what the next cycle of Fargo would be, and Chris got really excited and signed on right away.”
Landgraf was asked directly if production on the series would remain in and around Calgary, home to the first three seasons. The story — always jumping around in terms of time and place — moves further south to Kansas City for Season 4 (set to premiere sometime in 2019). “Will there be any snow?” the boss was asked.
“I think it snows in Kansas City. I know it does. My dad lived there for a while,” Landgraf replied.
advertisement
The executive reminded reporters that the series is made up of tall tales, not so much true crimes, and that, taken as a whole, the anthology could be looked at as chapters in a book. Chapter 4, set in Missouri, would be the Midwestern chapter.
Rock will play the head of an African American crime family in the upcoming season, which takes place in 1950. His character will clash with some mob bosses who immigrated from Italy. “Kansas City was the center of power of organized crime in America during this period of time,” explained Landgraf. “Before Las Vegas became an important hub, a lot of the capital for the creating of Las Vegas actually came from Kansas City. So the tentacles of these organizations in Kansas City stretch out into the upper Midwest. We’ve already seen the effects of some of these organizations, and now I think he’s going a little bit more to the source.”
Alright, but will the series be shot in Calgary, Landgraf was asked.
“I don’t know,” came the reply. “Haven’t decided yet.”
Read more about Rock, Fargo and Calgary including Hawley’s reasons for moving production of his other FX series, Legion, from Vancouver to Los Angeles here at this report I wrote for The Canadian Press.
