There’s another twist in the tale for the telly adaptation of Fargo that already has Billy Bob Thornton lined up to star. Now Martin Freeman is heading back to the small screen to take up one of the other lead roles.
Freeman, who first broke through on TV with The Office, became even better known thanks to a little show called Sherlock. These days, he splits his time between playing John Watson to Benedict Cumberbatch’s detective and starring in films such as The World’s End and The Hobbit trilogy.
For Fargo, adapted from the Coen brothers’ 1996 crime drama (though with different characters), Freeman will be Lester Nygaard, a small-town insurance salesman whose life becomes both more interesting and more dangerous when he crosses paths with Lorne Malvo (Thornton).
US network FX is gearing the concept up as a 10-episode miniseries with Noah Hawley overseeing the writers’ room and Joel and Ethan Coen on hand to produce. It’ll start shooting soon ready for a 2014 airdate in the US.