Mary Elizabeth Winstead took us on an exhilarating journey in Dan Trachtenberg's 10 Cloverfield Lane earlier this year. Now she's taking a left turn and is headed straight to Fargo, North Dakota.
It's been mostly quiet on the Fargo front lately as we wait for Season 3 to begin production (it's set to air Spring of 2017). The show is nominated in the Limited Series category at the Emmy's tomorrow night against American Crime, The Night Manager, The People v O.J. Simpson, and Roots.
So far we know the anthology series will have Ewan McGregor as its lead. He'll be playing two roles, that of brothers Emmit and Ray Stussy (not twins). The Leftovers' Carrie Coon is set to play chief of police Edna Valley. Now The Hollywood Reporter says Winstead will be joining them.
Season three of Fargo has been rumored to take place in 2010, following the events of the breakout drama's freshman season. It's unclear how or if it will tie into the events from the first run, though none of the stars from season one will return. Winstead will play Nikki Swango, a crafty and alluring recent parolee with a passion for competitive bridge playing. She is a woman with a plan who is focused on always being at least one move ahead of her opponents.
There is a slight hitch, however. Winstead is currently starring in CBS's BrainDead (apparently a political satire science fiction comedy-drama all rolled into one), where she plays a documentary filmmaker forced to take a job from her Senator brother after she lost funding on a project. THR notes, “The Fargo casting is in second position to CBS' summer drama BrainDead, meaning if the latter scores a second season and Fargo interferes with the production schedule, Winstead will do only BrainDead.”
As much as I missed the cast from Fargo Season 1, the follow up proved showrunner Noah Hawley knows what he's doing. Loved Winstead in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World of course but she's done a ton of TV and film since then and excelled in 10 Cloverfield Lane. Here's hoping she makes it to Fargo.