Then he walked out, leaving a single peanut on the table.
Colin Hanks , often dismissed as "just Tom Hanks’s son," found his dramatic edge as Gus Grimly, the anxious cop who stutters through bravery. Bob Odenkirk , still years away from Better Call Saul , played the small-town chief as comic relief—until Hawley gave him a speech about decency that made audiences weep. fargo: season 1 cast
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. Then he walked out, leaving a single peanut on the table
The squirrel, presumably, was watching.
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. The cast became a family of misfits
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?
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.