‘Fargo’ Season 3: David Thewlis Talks His Preparation For V.M. Varga Role

“Fargo” star David Thewlis revealed how he prepared for his role as V.M. Varga in Season 3 of the FX series.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Thewlis said that he read Sean Masaki Flynn’s “Economics for Dummies” to take hold of the business side of Varga. While that helped, the English actor revealed that watching American news was the one that really did the trick. “You’ve got four days off, but you can’t go outside because you’re in Calgary and it’s minus 30. So you just watch CNN,” Thewlis said. “You could describe [Varga’s] political and economic philosophy as Trumpian.”

Thewlis admitted to The Huffington Post that he kept tuning in to American news channels probably more than he should have, explaining that “what kept coming up was so relevant to Varga.”

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“The whole question of ‘What is truth?’ [seemed to be the theme of Trump’s presidency],” added Thewlis. “I have to say, I’m utterly baffled about what has happened so far.”

Although the actor sees Varga’s political and economic philosophy as Trumpian, Thewlis pointed out that he didn’t play Varga as a grand metaphor for Trump’s presidency. “I’ve become very aware with ‘Fargo’ that [series creator] Noah Hawley’s writing is hugely thematic,” Thewlis said. “You see that in the way people analyze it, often wonderfully. And Noah has said that everything in drama for the next few years will be about Trump. But I can’t say I play the character with that in mind. I concentrate on what’s in the script.”

The synopsis for this week’s Season 3, episode 7 of “Fargo” reveals that Varga comes up with an alternative plan to help Emmit Stussy (Ewan McGregor) get away with Ray Stussy’s (also played by McGregor) murder. While it’s unclear what that new plan is, the trailer for the episode shows Emmit suspecting Sy Feltz (Michael Stuhlbarg) to be Ray’s murderer.

In Season 3, episode 6, Emmit unintentionally killed Ray during an argument over the stamp Ray originally inherited from their late father. Varga helped Emmit clean his mess, telling the Parking Lot King of Minnesota that they’re going to blame Nikki Swango (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) for the death of her fiancé.

“Fargo” Season 3, episode 7, titled “The Law of Inevitability,” airs on Wednesday, May 31 at 10 p.m. EDT on FX.