Fargo’s fifth season gave us a villian straight out of Alt-America

Fargo writer/director Noah Hawley has given us a villian for the USA's current political moment

Jon Hamm as ‘constitutional sheriff’ Roy Tillman. Photo: FX

Over the last decade and across five seasons (each with its own set of characters but taking place in the same shared continuity) Noah Hawley’s Fargo, based on the 1996 Coen brothers movie of the same name, has given us some great antagonists. In the first season, it was a mysterious hitman played brilliantly by Billy Bob Thornton, and season 3 introduced us to V. M. Varga, portrayed by the British actor David Thewlis, who personified a particularly predatory form of finance capitalism. The show’s fifth season bought us Roy Tillman, played by Jon Hamm, a character whose archetype has long existed in the vast expanse of the United States between the coastal cities where most television and movies are set, now being depicted on screen after the last few years of political upheaval have brought that archetype to the fore. 

“In the old days, a character like Roy, who is a Bible-quoting, constitutional sheriff, you wouldn’t have seen him as a square conservative, moral majority.” Hawley told The LA Times “But I think what we learned during the Trump era is that we live in ‘Tiger King’ America now”.