Noah Hawley isn't done with Fargo: "There's still a lot to say"

The New York Times

Discussing the Season 4 finale, Hawley admits to The New York Times it was a challenge to return after three years off. But when asked if he's definitely done, with Fargo, he says, "I don't think so." He adds: "I’ve been saying I’m done for three years and I haven’t been, so it feels obnoxious to say it again," he says. "The show has always been about the American experience, and there’s still a lot to say about it. That said, I don’t have a timeline and I don’t even really have an idea. But I find myself compelled to come back to this style of storytelling: to tell a crime story, which is also a kind of character study and philosophical document exploration of our American experience. It’s not something I feel like I ever would have been allowed to do without the Coen Brothers’ model in the beginning, and now I can’t think of why I would do it in any other format. The tone of voice is also unique: It’s that Kafka setup to a tragic punchline, with a happy ending. That feels like a magic trick, if you can do it right." In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hawley adds that it may take another few years before Fargo returns again, though he does have an idea for Season 5. "I don't think it's the next thing I'm doing," he says. "Right now, I'm trying to finish a book that I've owed for two years. I think what's important about this series for me has been the time off from it. There's so much that goes into each one thematically and character-wise. It's all a part of a larger exploration of America and the things we do for money, and the morality of our lives and decent people versus evil. When I finish, I don't think I have anything left to say about it. And then you go off and you go, 'Oh, there's this whole other thing we haven't looked at yet.' Of course, ideas don't make a story. Themes don't make a story. Only characters make a story. I need that time (off) for me to figure out what I want the show to be 'About,' with a capital A. Who is it 'About,' and what is that story? It's a longer process. You can't assembly-line it." In The Times interview, Hawley also discussed writing the series and making sure he, as a white writer, was getting the Chris Rock-led Season 4 right. "I had a lot of conversations throughout the process with a lot of people that I really respected, who I knew would call me out if I was not being authentic," he said. 'If it was Chris Rock, writers, directors, or the other actors, if there had been a moment that didn’t feel authentic or felt like it was romanticized, then we would have those conversations."

ALSO:

• Noah Hawley didn't think the Season 4 ending was a surprise: "I think there was a lot of talk around FX about trying to keep it a secret, and I just never thought it was a secret," he tells GQ, adding to Indiewire: “I knew from the first interviews that I wasn’t fooling anybody.”
• Fargo Season 4 ran out of things to say by its finale: “'Storia Americana' is the shortest episode of Fargo’s fourth season," says Zack Handlen. "More than that, it’s unusually short, with the screener (including credits) topping out at a scant 39 minutes. Watching it, it becomes eminently clear why. Despite season four’s large and sprawling ensemble, despite the seemingly endless collection of subplots and side missions, when it comes time to close the shop and head for home, Fargo seems to have run out of things to say. Of it’s less-than-40-minutes, 'Americana' finds time for a montage of the season’s casualties, and several long, slow scenes full of swelling music of people looking at things. The plot is wrapped up, more or less, and most of the conclusions are definitive. One or two of them is even unexpected. But very little in this finale is surprising or edifying. It might clear the bar on 'satisfying,' if all you really wanted were a few more corpses."
• This was a B to B- season of Fargo, but it's a better ride than an A or A- effort out of a lesser show