Fargo: Season: 1 Cast

It sounded like a disaster.

When Noah Hawley began casting Fargo 's first season, nobody expected it to work. A TV adaptation of the Coen brothers' beloved film? Starring Martin Freeman —the gentle, hapless Bilbo Baggins—as a cold-blooded killer? And Billy Bob Thornton as a philosophical, devilish drifter with a bowl cut? fargo: season 1 cast

And behind the scenes? The Coen brothers, who had nothing to do with the show, quietly called Hawley after watching the pilot. "You didn’t ruin it," they said. "That’s high praise from us." It sounded like a disaster

The cast became a family of misfits. Freeman taught Tolman card tricks. Thornton gave Odenkirk a hunting knife "for emergencies." When the Emmy nominations came, Tolman cried on Freeman’s shoulder. Thornton didn’t show up—he was rumored to be feeding peanuts to a squirrel in Montana. The Coen brothers, who had nothing to do

Thornton, meanwhile, arrived each day in character as Lorne Malvo—refusing to speak to anyone except in low, rumbling riddles. He once whispered to a prop master, "The squirrel knows. Burn the acorns." No one was sure if he was joking.

Then he walked out, leaving a single peanut on the table.

Then there was Allison Tolman , a virtually unknown Chicago stage actress who auditioned for a tiny role as Deputy Molly Solverson. Hawley was so stunned by her honest, warm intensity that he rewrote the entire season to make her the hero. She filmed her first scene having never been on a major set before—and stole the show from two Oscar nominees.