FX Renews 'Fargo' For Third Season? You Betcha

FX has ordered up another season of its anthology series "Fargo," the network announced today. The show, midway through its second season, is based on the 1996 film of the same name by Joel and Ethan Coen, but uses different characters and storylines, even between seasons. Season 1 detailed the hunt for a sociopathic hit man (Billy Bob Thornton) and nice-guy-turned-murderer (Martin Freeman) by a Minnesota detective (Allison Tolman). Season 2 focuses on the detective's father (Keith Carradine in Season 1, Patrick Wilson as the 1979 version of the character in Season 2) as he attempts to stop a mob war.

When IBT spoke with Hawley earlier this month, the showrunner remained coy about whether a third story was in the offing. "I'm mulling," he said. Just as he and FX Networks CEO and President John Landgraf didn't want to rush to put out a sub-par tale after a well-received first season, the same principle applied when deciding whether to go ahead with a third installment. Season 2 currently has a Metacritic score of 96/100, and its Nielsen ratings put it in the top 10 cable scripted series.

“It’s rare in capitalism that you get to do a mic-drop,” Hawley said. “Where you go, ‘Well, I did this one good thing, I’m done.’ That was really cool, not having a gun to my head.”

Now there's an idea for Season 3.