The fifth season of the American black comedy crime drama television series Fargo, billed as Fargo: Year Five and Fargo: Installment 5, aired on FX from November 21, 2023 to January 6, 2024, totaling ten episodes. The series is an anthology about violent crime in the American Midwest, with each season acting as a self-contained story within the show's shared continuity. Set in the fall of 2019, Year Five follows Dorothy "Dot" Lyon, a seemingly typical Midwestern housewife living in Scandia, Minnesota, whose mysterious past comes back to haunt her after she inadvertently lands herself in hot water with the authorities.
The season was produced by FX Productions and MGM Television, with Noah Hawley serving as showrunner. It is the first season of the series to have no connection to either a previous season or the 1996 film, though it makes several homages to the latter. Though it was scheduled to premiere in September 2023, it was delayed due to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes. It stars Juno Temple, Jennifer Jason Leigh, David Rysdahl, Joe Keery, Lamorne Morris, Richa Moorjani, Sam Spruell, Sienna King, Dave Foley, and Jon Hamm.
Fargo: Year Five received positive reviews, with many critics calling it a return to form for the show and favorably comparing it to the first two seasons. It was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards for Best Limited or Anthology Series or Television Film and Best Actor and Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film for Hamm and Temple, respectively.
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On the day of the fourth season's finale, "Storia Americana", series creator Noah Hawley was questioned about a potential fifth season. He said, "The danger is always that you're going to stay at the dance a little too long. So I have to put a lot of it in place in my head and really make sure that it's worthy of joining these 41 hours. I don't want to try and make another one unless I think, 'Oh, we have to make this one. It's the best one yet. By March 2021, Hawley said "I'll get to it in the next year."
In February 2022, FX officially renewed the series for a fifth season. Hawley said that the season would be more "comedic" in tone, saying "It's always a balance between how dramatic versus comedic it is, and this is the more comedic end of the spectrum. I really love it."
In June 2022, Juno Temple, Jon Hamm and Jennifer Jason Leigh were confirmed as main cast members for the season. In August 2022, Joe Keery, Lamorne Morris and Richa Moorjani joined the series.
In October 2022, David Rysdahl, Sam Spruell, Jessica Pohly and Nick Gomez joined the season. The following month, Dave Foley was confirmed to appear, while Lukas Gage also joined in January 2023.
Filming for the season started on October 17, 2022 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
On October 25, 2023, FX Networks released the season's full trailer.
The season premiered on FX on November 21, 2023, with the first two episodes, with the rest debuting weekly. It was originally scheduled to premiere in September 2023, but was delayed due to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 93% based on 54 reviews, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "A back-to-basics caper populated by the likes of a mesmerizing Juno Temple and a thick slice of Hamm, Fargos fifth season is a superb return to peak form." On Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.