Matthias Clamer/FX (LOS ANGELES) — Season 4 of Fargo premieres Sunday night on FX and it’s been a while since we last saw new episodes of the critically acclaimed series considering that season 3 premiered in 2017. Although that was partially due to the pandemic, series creator Noah Hawley tells ABC Audio the extra time gave him some breathing room not typical for the usually speedy way in which television is made.

“It was good to have a few months to live with the material, to watch the cuts, to take a break from the cuts, to go back and go, oh yeah, this one feels long to me now and you know, to be able to calibrate more,” he explained. “Hopefully we really are telling the best story we can tell.”

This season, which looks at America’s relationship to money and focuses on two vastly different families — one Italian and the other Black, which is led by Chris Rock. And although Hawley is white, he expressed it was very important to him that the characters depicted on screen had representation in the creation of the stories.

“In the writers that we hired and the directors that we hired, you know, we we really made sure that that, you know, this wasn’t going to be an act of appropriation,” he shared, adding that the comedian was the “perfect partner.” 

“… you know, nothing’s sacred to Chris. He’s not a P.C. guy. So we could have a very honest conversation and really have a back and forth,” he says. 

In addition to seeing Rock take the lead, viewers will notice the series takes a jump from the upper North West of the United States to Kansas City, and the reason for that is simple. 

“To avoid repetition on some level,” Hawley admitted.

By Danielle Long and Jason Nathanson
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.