The first season of FX’s Fargo, based on the Joel and Ethan Coen film of the same name, was the kind of slow-burn dark comedy crime drama that I crave. It actually would have been fine if the series was just that one story arc. But earning the kinds of acclaim and acolytes it did after its debut, it only made sense for the network to ask Noah Hawley to write the series’ second season.

Though Fargo didn’t take place in the same city, it did have some nods to the film and used the same tones. Now season two will be pretty much the same. Rather than take place after the events of the first season, season two will take place long before Lorne Malvo and Lester Nygaard ever crossed paths. Rumor has it Jeffery Donavan and Nick Offerman have been offered roles, but have yet to be confirmed. What has been confirmed is that Kirsten Dunst (Spider-Man) and Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad) are joining the series. Hit the jump for more.

Hawley has said that season two would take place in 1979, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with Lou Solverson (an older version played by Keith Carradine in season one) having returned from Vietnam. Season one would occasionally allude to the case, but only verbally, never once showing us what exactly happened in Sioux Falls.

According to EW, Dunst will play Peggy Blomquist, “a small town beautician with big city dreams who is trying to figure out who she really is and what she really wants as she struggles with traditional societal expectations.” Plemons will play her husband, Ed, a butcher’s assistant who “wants to be supportive of his wife’s self-discovery””even if he doesn’t quite understand it.”

This still leaves us with the roles of a younger Lou Solverson, his wife, and daughter. Carradine is unlikely to return to reprise his role, as he is too old.

[Source: EW]