The anthology format of TV storytelling has a lot of advantages. First seasons of shows are often the best, when things feel new and exciting and fresh ideas are plentiful; anthologies let showrunners replicate that first-season feeling every year. Top talent like Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Lange, and Billy Bob Thornton can be lured to the small screen thanks to the relatively low commitment. And viewers can rest easy, knowing that they're watching a close-ended story with guaranteed closure. But there are drawbacks: namely, that we only get to spend one brief season with characters we may quickly fall in love with. Which is why some viewers may already be wondering... What is the cast of Fargo Season 2 up to next?
The sophomore season of FX's crime anthology may have only just begun — the third episode, "The Myth Of Sisyphus," airs this Monday night — but with only 10 episodes to its name, the finale will come sooner than we think. Like Thornton, Martin Freeman, and the rest of Season 1's cast, the current ensemble won't be returning for another go-'round once this crop of episodes is finished. That fact lends even more of a ticking clock vibe to the remainder of the short season.
To help you cope, here's a list of where you can catch all of Fargo Season 2's main actors as soon as the finale has aired at the end of this year.
Kirsten Dunst
The Spider-Man actress has two films slated for release in 2016. The first is a "sci-fi chase" movie called Midnight Special , from the director of the 2012 McConaughey film Mud. The film stars Michael Shannon (Man Of Steel) as a father on the run with his "uniquely gifted" son, joined on the lam by Dunst and Joel Edgerton (The Gift), as they're all pursued by a religious sect led by Sam Shepard (The Right Stuff) and a government task force led by Adam Driver (Star Wars: The Force Awakens). Her second film is Woodshock , about a young woman's descent into paranoia after taking a deadly drug. Woodshock is being distributed by A24, the fledging company behind such recent acclaimed films as Ex Machina, Obvious Child, Under The Skin, and Room.
Patrick Wilson
The Insidious star has no fewer than SEVEN feature films in his future: the Kurt Russell western Bone Tomahawk (out this month); the crime thriller Caught Stealing, with Alec Baldwin; the cartel drama The Hollow Point with Deadwood's Ian McShane; the romcom Matters Of The Heart; the mystery A Kind Of Murder, with Jessica Biel; the McDonalds biopic The Founder starring Michael Keaton; and the horror sequel The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist, alongside fellow returnees Vera Farmiga and director James Wan.
Jean Smart
The only project currently in the works for Smart is the indie horror thriller The Ones Above , about estranged brothers who reunite when their mother goes missing under supernatural circumstances... but it probably won't be too long before the Emmy-winning actress finds another exciting role to lure her back to the small screen.
Ted Danson
You probably won't be seeing the Cheers vet in any movies or other TV projects anytime soon — he's currently tied up as a series regular on CBS's CSI: Cyber, playing D.B. Russell, the same character he played on the final four seasons on the original CSI. (The Emmy winner finds himself in good company there, alongside Oscar winner Patricia Arquette.)
Jesse Plemons
The former Friday Night Lights and Breaking Bad actor is slowly but surely trading in his steady television gigs for a promising film career. Plemons has already appeared in two Oscar-baity dramas this year, Johnny Depp's Black Mass and the Lance Armstrong biopic The Program. He can currently be seen in the Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks Cold War drama Bridge Of Spies. Next he'll star in a dramedy called Other People , where he'll play a gay SNL writer who returns home when his mother (Sissy Spacek) is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Then he'll play a supporting role in the Tom Cruise action thriller Mena , in a cast including Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Jayma Mays (Glee), and Lola Kirke (Gone Girl).
Jeffrey Donovan
The Burn Notice star is trading in Miami for Tinseltown, appearing in two major upcoming films. First is the crime thriller Shot Caller, also starring Game Of Thrones' Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and The Walking Dead's Jon Bernthal. Then he'll be seen in the Presidential biopic LBJ, starring Woody Harrelson as President Lyndon B. Johnson; Donovan himself will appear as John F. Kennedy.
Cristin Milioti
The How I Met Your Mother actress has been pulling double duty this fall, simultaneously appearing on both Fargo and Season 4 of The Mindy Project. For her next project, Milioti will head to the big screen, starring in the romantic comedy It Had To Be You.
Bruce Campbell
Campbell hasn't even made his debut as film star-turned-presidential hopeful Ronald Reagan on Fargo Season 2 yet, but you can already start looking forward to his next endeavor: returning to his "groovy" roots in Starz's Ash Vs. Evil Dead , premiering on — appropriately enough — Halloween night.
While you wait impatiently for all of these exciting new projects, catch Fargo's terrific cast in action this Monday night in "The Myth Of Sisyphus."
Images: Chris Large/FX
