Joel and Ethan Coen are executive producing the series with Warren Littlefield and Noah Hawley, who is also responsible for writing the series.The drama is set for a limited, 10-episode run, similar to FX’s American Horror Story. The short commitment has allowed the show-runners to lure top-tier talent while still leaving the door open for a potential anthology treatment that would expand on the town with a new set of characters.
Billy Bob Thornton will play Lorne Malvo, “a rootless, manipulative man who meets a small town insurance salesman and sets him on a path of destruction.“ Martin Freeman is Lester Nygaard, a character loosely inspired by Jerry Lundegaard, the character played by William H. Macy in the original film. Lester is “henpecked by his wife,” but his life is changed when Malvo comes to town.
Also in the cast is relative newcomer Allison Toleman as Deputy Molly Solverson, who seems to be filling the role based on Frances McDormand’s Marge Gunderson. And finally, Adam Bernstein of Breaking Bad directed the first episode, an appropriate choice fitting the theme of a mismatched duo teaming up for a little corruption.