Fargo Season 3 pulled off a major casting coup by snagging legitimate movie star Ewan McGregor to play a central role. When news came out that McGregor would be taking on not one but two roles on the award-winning FX series, well, McGregor and Fargo fans had even more reason to be excited.

Initially it was thought that McGregor would be playing twin brothers on Fargo - that's usually the way it goes when you cast one performer to play two siblings - but in fact that was not entirely accurate. McGregor's real dual role is possibly more interesting and more challenging from a technical point of view.

As McGregor explained to Digital Spy, instead of playing twins on Fargo, he will actually be playing non-twin siblings. The brothers, Ray and Emmit, are described as polar opposites: Emmit is a successful businessman while Ray is a balding, resentful loser. In order to pull off the role, McGregor has to sit for make-up and do some extra vocal work:

"I'm playing two brothers so it involves quite a bit of prosthetics and make-up. They look very different, they're not twins. By playing them, I've have to find their voices which has been a challenge, but I've really enjoyed that."

Nailing the Minnesota accent so prevalent on Fargo was enough of a challenge for McGregor, but he took it a step further by actually creating two characters with different voices. McGregor told Digital Spy that episode one of Season 3 has already wrapped shooting in Calgary and that he's enjoying his time in chilly Alberta:

"It was really exciting. I like the people that are making it, I like the actors in it and I loved very much season one and two. There are great scenes to play."

Season 3 co-stars Carrie Coon (The Leftovers), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane), Jim Gaffigan (Hot Pursuit) and David Thewlis (Wonder Woman) and revolves around an escalating chain of events that's touched off by a petty theft. Viewers of Fargo's second season know how quickly things can escalate on the show, especially when characters start making really terrible choices (like driving all the way home with a dead body stuck in your windshield and not telling the police).

Unlike Season 2 which was a period piece set in the '70s, Season 3 is set in 2010 which is close enough to the present day. Most of the characters in Season 3 will be new, but there will reportedly be at least one holdover character from a previous season (who has not yet been identified). Will the UFOs make another appearance? That we don't know.

Season 2 of Fargo set the bar insanely high, with its acclaimed mix of suspense, character-driven drama, flat-out violent murder, and bizarre twists. Having an actor the caliber of Ewan McGregor in the cast, playing two roles that each sound juicy, gives reason for optimism that Season 3 can at least approach the high level achieved by Season 2. Noah Hawley will no doubt have some interesting tricks up his sleeve for the new season, which is expected to begin airing in mid-April.

Source: Digital Spy