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FX brings Chris Rock to ‘Fargo’ for series’ fourth season

Though the last visit to “Fargo” was a while ago, it’s still on the television map.

Last seen in 2017, the FX drama series inspired by an Oscar-winning movie begins its pandemic-delayed fourth season with two episodes Sunday, Sept. 27 (also streaming starting the next day on FX on Hulu). As is customary, the Emmy- and Peabody-winning show reboots with a new story and cast, with Chris Rock now heading the ensemble as a Kansas City mobster circa 1950. He strikes an accord with a rival family (a member of which is played by Jason Schwartzman) to maintain peace, but unexpected circumstances soon upset that agreement.

Other characters in the new saga include a federal marshal (Timothy Olyphant, returning to FX following his run in “Justified”), a detective (Jack Huston) who can’t filter his impulses, and a “Rabbi” (Ben Whishaw) – per his nickname – who has his own agenda in observing what develops among the criminal competitors, within their own families in some instances.

While Rock is known primarily for comedy, “Fargo” executive producer, writer and sometimes director Noah Hawley says that with Season 4, “Once I had the idea for it, I immediately thought of Chris. And before there was a script, I met with him and pitched him what I wanted to do, and he agreed to sign on ... and then, it was four or five months before he saw a script. I definitely was writing with him in mind. I tend not to, but with Chris, he’s special.”

Rock admits he had a big adjustment to make to the “Fargo” way of working. “It’s intricate, the way they shoot,” he notes. “The camera’s always moving, so it’s not like comedic acting where you kind of wait for your closeup and you’re like, ‘OK, I’m going to give you 13 different versions of this funny thing.’ This is like the New England Patriots, and you have to run the route and (expect) the ball will be there. You’ve got to run the exact route for it to work. The challenge is getting the part down but still getting some of my personality in there.”

Hawley enjoys working elements of history into any season of “Fargo,” since he reflects, “The story of any family is the story of America. What we’ll come to realize with this African-American man who was raised by an Irishman – who himself was raised by both Jews and Italians – is that history is a living thing. And the way that we keep it alive is that we tell stories about our history to keep it fresh in our minds. Otherwise, we forget, so it’s exciting on some level to explore.”

BY JAY BOBBIN

King Kong

Godzilla

The Alien

BEST MOVIE MONSTERS

Frankenstein Though Boris Karloff established the legend of playing Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, the screen incarnation pre-dated him, going back to 1910 – and actors from Lon Chaney Jr. to Robert De Niro would succeed him. The Wolfman Yet another fear-instilling figure who has been brought to the screen many times, this was another character Lon Chaney Jr. was renowned for ... though other performers to sprout a lot of hair upon a full moon have included Benicio Del Toro and (in a Mike Nichols-directed modernization) Jack Nicholson. King Kong The mightiest ape of all first reigned supreme in a 1933 stop-motionanimation milestone in which he famously carried a shrieking Fay Wray, then returned in a 1976 version (with Jessica Lange in his massive palm) and director Peter Jackson’s 2005 version (featuring Naomi Watts as the apple of Kong’s eye). Godzilla Originated in Japan and brought to America in a version of the initial movie that added scenes featuring Raymond Burr, this giant sea monster has been revived on film numerous times in projects of varying quality, the most notable of which starred Matthew Broderick (1998) and Bryan Cranston (2014). The Fly First played by Al (later David) Hedison and then by Jeff Goldblum and Eric Stoltz, this merged being derived its terror from generating thoughts of what could happen if man tampered with nature. The Alien Based on designs by H.R. Giger, the intergalactic enemy that first terrorized a space crew in “Alien” – then had friends and relatives who continued that campaign in the sequels – surely gave astronaut Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and others much opportunity to test the famous advertising line, “In space, no one can hear you scream.”