‘Fargo’ Season 3 Back to Modern Day, Past Characters May Return

The second season of FX critical darling Fargo returned to 1979 to chronicle the “Sioux Falls Massacre” that an elder Lou Solverson mentioned in Season 1, while the Season 3 renewal had fans wondering which direction the next true crime story might travel. Wonder no longer, as Fargo Season 3 will return to the modern day, potentially spotlighting some familiar characters along the way.

Per Entertainment Weekly, Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley revealed that a Season 3 plan has already begun to crystallize, picking up several years after the first 2006-set season, though not quite as far as 2015, or 2016 perhaps. Describing it as “more contemporary” overall, Hawley also alluded to the potential for past characters to return from either season.

So, should we comb Season 2 (or its remaining episodes) for clues to Season 3?

There are going to be connections, the way the first year was connected to the movie and the second year was connected to the first, but I think part of the fun is figuring that stuff out and I wouldn’t want to take that away from anybody. There will be definitely things that connect to something in our story.

Hawley also offered that the series’ format would require at least some lead time on our modern day, as:

The idea of the ‘true story’ is it always has to be at least a few years ago, because the idea is we finally know what really happened and it took time – because the book doesn’t come out until five or six years after.

It isn’t clear exactly when Fargo Season 3 might air, given the first season aired from April to June of 2014, while the second didn’t premiere until October 2015, perhaps marking it difficult to follow through on a 2016 return. In either case, will a return to modern day lose some of the charm and stylistic flair of Season 2? What characters should we hope to return?