Patrick Wilson Will Play Young Lou Solverson in FARGO Season 2
I've written before about my love for the FX original series Fargo, and just a couple of days ago I wrote about how showrunner Noah Hawley mentioned that season two would be "a lot bigger" than the first season. Part of the growth of the show includes an expanded cast, and ever since it was announced that the second season would revolve around a young Lou Solverson (played wonderfully by Keith Carradine), I wondered who Hawley would cast to step into that character's shoes. ComingSoon reports that The Conjuring star Patrick Wilson will play a young Solverson, which is a fantastic choice. Wilson has been doing consistently great work for the past few years, and I'm really looking forward to seeing him take the lead on one of the most cinematic and well-written shows on TV.
Ted Danson and Jean Smart are also joining the cast, which already consisted of Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons as one set of main characters, along with Jeffrey Donovan and Nick Offerman. Here's some information from the press release from FX, which includes a few more cast additions and details about which characters these actors will play and some hints at the story that will play out over the course of the second season:
Patrick Wilson will star as Lou Solverson, a clean cut Minnesota State Patrolman, four years back from Vietnam, where he served in the Navy. A humble and competent man, Lou is a devoted husband to his wife Betsy (yet to be cast), and father to four-year-old Molly (yet to be cast).
Ted Danson will play Hank Larsson, the Sheriff of Rock County, Minnesota. An unflappable WWII vet who embodies a certain cowboy poetry, Hank is Lou’s father-in-law.
Jean Smart will play Floyd Gerhardt, the matriarch of the Gerhardt crime family. She’s stood by her husband’s side for 40 years, but now that he’s out of the picture she thinks it’s her turn to run things.
The all new “true crime” case of “Fargo’s” new chapter travels back to 1979 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Luverne, Minnesota, where a young State Police Officer Lou Solverson (Wilson), recently back from Vietnam, investigates a case involving a local crime gang and a major Mob syndicate. Helping him piece things together is his father-in-law, Sheriff Hank Larsson (Danson). The investigation will lead them to a colorful cast of characters that includes Karl Weathers (Nick Offerman), the town lawyer of Luverne, Minnesota. A Korean War vet, Karl is a flowery drunk blessed with the gift of gab and the eloquence of a true con artist.
Brad Garrett will play Joe Bulo, the front man for the northern expansion of a Kansas City crime syndicate. The new face of corporate crime, Joe’s bringing a Walmart mentality to small town America. His number two is Mike Milligan (Bokeem Woodbine). Part enforcer, part detective, Mike is always smiling – but the joke is usually on you. Bulo and his crew have their sights set on the Gerhardt crime family in Fargo, currently led by matriarch Floyd Gerhardt (Smart). With her husband at death’s door, Floyd takes over the family business, frustrating her eldest son, Dodd Gerhardt (Jeffrey Donovan). An impatient hothead with a cruel streak to match his ambitions, Dodd can’t wait for both his parents to die so he can take over and expand their business from kingdom to empire. Bear Gerhardt (Angus Sampson) is the middle son, an intimidatingly large man who, although inarticulate, is the most decent of his clan. Rye Gerhardt (Kieran Culkin), the youngest of the Gerhardt clan, views himself as a big shot, but in reality he’s just a small dog who barks big.
Looking forward to the new season of Fargo? Production starts on January 19th, and the show is scheduled to return to TV sometime this fall.