‘Fargo’ casting director Rachel Tenner ‘can’t think of a single person who has not risen to the occasion’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Rachel Tenner has been the casting director of “Fargo” since the first season, winning an Emmy for that installment, and not much has changed on her end in the 10 years since the show premiered. “[It’s] basically the same way every time. You get the scripts, it’s a new story, but the thing about ‘Fargo’ is that tonally everything has stayed the same since the first season,” Tenner tells Gold Derby at our Meet the Experts: TV Casting Directors panel (watch the exclusive video interview above). “From the movie to the first season and throughout, that’s always the No. 1 thing — the tone of it. so in that regard, there’s not that much different in the process of how you approach. It’s just really the new characters and how you wanna bring them to life.”

Tenner doesn’t get a heads-up from creator Noah Hawley before receiving the scripts — and she loved Season 5 scripts, which reminded her of the inaugural season. Set in 2019, the fifth season follows Dot Lyon (Juno Temple), a Minnesota housewife whose mysterious past rears its head when she gets entangled with the police. While most viewers now know Temple as “Ted Lasso’s” Keeley, Tenner has been familiar with the Emmy nominee’s varied body of work.

“Somebody like Juno, I have known, obviously, forever from a ton of projects that she’s done. I had a bigger, broader sense of who she was as an actor outside of ‘Ted Lasso,’ so I think that brought us to her in an easier, faster way around that,” she says. “It is, however, fun — and it might be part of the subconscious of it — thinking of people that you’d like to see, like someone you know that can do something different and just hasn’t had the chance to and getting to use them that way.”

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Jon Hamm was cast as the corrupt Sheriff Roy Tillman, who is also Dot’s ex-husband. The “Mad Men” star had previously worked with Hawley on “Legion” and “Lucy in the Sky” (2019) and as his comedic turns have proven, he’s definitely not above being totally ridiculous onscreen. For Roy Tillman, that includes, among other things, wearing nipple rings. “That was a much easier discussion around Jon and understanding what he’s capable of doing and where we wanna take him with this. I think sometimes it’s like, does the actor want to go there? Does he want to present himself that way? Because that character is pretty out there, but in the best way. But he seems game for anything,” Tenner says. “And that was such a big part of the discussion — the nipple rings!”

Outside of Jennifer Jason Leigh, with her Coen brothers connection via “The Hudsucker Proxy” (1994), the supporting players were cast through auditions, including “Stranger Things” star Joe Keery, who plays Tillman’s hapless son Gator. “It was great that he wanted to go through the process of it and let us show everyone what else he’s capable of doing,” Tenner states. “I think a lot about our jobs is … we hope as casting directors that we’re seeing a bigger picture of an actor than maybe you are or audiences are, so we can take that leap and hopefully you have producers and directors who share that same vision or share that same passion or share that openness to just make those leaps. A lot of ‘Fargo’ … is just taking a leap and being like, ‘I’m sure he’ll get it. I’m sure he’ll get there,’ you know what I mean? Let’s just go for it. And I can’t think of a single person who has not risen to the occasion.”

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