How ‘Fargo’ Expanded the Coen-Verse With Help From Westerns and ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’

If the fifth season of FX’s “Fargo” looks a little familiar to you, all the creators can say to that is…you betcha. Noah Hawley’s Coen-verse thriller series spinoff has sprouted numerous timelines and tangents (the current season even goes back 500 years at one point), but this year’s tense, fiercely comic installment is not at all coy about wanting to put you right back in the universe of the Oscar-winning 1996 classic, even though this incarnation takes place in 2019, only four years ago.

“Frankly, part of the pitch that I made about myself is that it was really a coming of a full circle,” said production designer Trevor Smith, who is returning to “Fargo” after working as an art director on the first season starring Billy Bob Thornton and Martin Freeman, which is the closest to the vibe of the current season.