‘Fargo’ goes Dutch: Ronald Reagan will be character in season two of FX series

PASADENA, Calif. — Ronald Reagan will be a character in season two of FX’s anthology series “Fargo,” which beings production Monday in Calgary.

FX Networks head John Landgraf divulged a few more details Sunday at the TV critics’ press tour about the upcoming installment of Noah Hawley’s “true crime” series, whose freshman season notched an impressive 18 Emmy nods — the second highest total for any TV program last year. The quirky drama is inspired by the Coen brothers’ movie by the same name.

“It’s a big, sprawling, in some ways more comedic, although at times very serious, show,” Landgraf said about the 10-episode season, slated to debut this fall.

“It’s set in the late ’70s against the backdrop of Ronald Reagan’s first campaign for president of the United States,” he said. “Reagan is a character in it and some movies that he’s reputed to have made, but a lot of what it’s about is the cultural transformation that was going on in America at that time. So it’s about the sense that the war has come home.”

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It’s already been reported that season two will take place in 1979 in Luverne, Minnesota and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the site of “the massacre” alluded to last season by Lou Solverson. Solverson was played by Keith Carradine in season one. As previously announced, Patrick Wilson will take over in season two as a younger version of Solverson, a veteran who’s recently returned from Vietnam.

“[Reagan] comes through on a campaign swing and interacts with Lou Solverson,” Landgraf said, adding that the actor who will play the man that would become the 40th U.S. president hasn’t been cast yet.

Other cast members and guest stars joining “Fargo” next season include Kirsten Dunst, Ted Danson, Jean Smart, Jesse Plemons, Jeffrey Donovan, Brad Garrett, Kieran Culkin and Minooka native Nick Offerman (“Parks and Recreation”), playing a loquacious lawyer and Korean War vet.

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“It’s also about feminism,” Landgraf added. “There are some really significant female characters as there were with Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman).”