Anyone who is familiar with my taste in television knows how much I loved FX’s Fargo TV series, based on the Coen Brothers classic film of the same name. I was not alone–the miniseries received 18 Emmy nominations – the second highest total of any program on television this year – and won three awards, including Outstanding Miniseries; Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special. Billy Bob Thornton won a well-deserved Critics Choice Award for his chilling performance as the deadly Lorne Malvo. Now, since the first season was so highly regarded by critics and viewer alike, producers and network execs are busy preparing for a season two. A couple of stellar casting choices have already been made and announced, with two appropriately Nordic looking young actors in leading rolls: Golden Globe nominated actress Kirsten Dunst (Interview with the Vampire) and Breaking Bad’s Jesse Plemons.

In the second season of the Fargo TV series, Dunst (who will forever be remembered by me for Drop Dead Gorgeous) will play “Peggy Blomquist,” a small town beautician with big city dreams who is trying to figure out who she really is and what she really wants as she struggles with traditional societal expectations. She shares her home with her husband “Ed” (Plemons–also of Saturday Night Lights fame), a butcher’s assistant, who wants to be supportive of his wife’s self-discovery, even if he doesn’t quite understand it. I expect some bad behavior from him, because that “naive” blond haired boy next door was evil incarnate as Todd in Breaking Bad, and played a big part in Walter White’s downfall.

Fargo’s new chapter, which will unfold over the course of 10 episodes, will travel back to 1979 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Luverne, Minnesota, where a young State Police Officer “Lou Solverson” (yet to be cast), recently back from Vietnam, will tackle an all new “true crime” case.  Solverson’s wife, “Betsy,” (yet to be cast) their four-year-old daughter, “Molly,” (yet to be cast) and fellow officer, “Ben Schmidt,” (yet to be cast) will also be featured in the new installment. I can’t wait to hear who will fill in the blanks–I’m hoping for a bright new light like Alison Tollman from last season.

Production of the new season of the Fargo TV series is slated to begin in Calgary in January 2015 and the 10-episode anthology miniseries is scheduled to premiere next fall on FX. I’ll keep you posted on further details as they’re released, doncha know?