Billy Bob Thornton came up with his character's hair cut on his own. The moment Noah Hawley saw him, he knew they were both on the same page regarding the character.
Jesse Plemons (Ed Blumquist) and Kirsten Dunst (Peggy Blumquist) played husband and wife in season 2. They were married in July 2022 and share a son, Ennis. Likewise, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Nikki Swango) and Ewan McGregor (Emmit/Ray Stussy) played romantic partners in season 3. They were married in April 2022 and share a son, Laurie.
Every episode starts with the onscreen words "This is a true story. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 2006/ 1979/ 2010/2019 (depending on what season it is). At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred." This is a nod to the way that the 1996 source movie Fargo (1996) started (also by claiming that its events were based on a true story). However, neither the movie nor the TV show are actually based on true events. In a 2014 interview, the show's executive producer Noah Hawley clarified the "true story" episode introductions by saying "the show.... It's all just made up. The whole cloth. I didn't go looking for [a] true crime. It started from a character standpoint and everything grew organically out of that."
Each episode of the first season has a title that refers to a koan, parable, or philosophical paradox.
During a 2014 interview on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," Noah Hawley said that the inspiration for the character Mr. Wrench (who, like Russell Harvard, the actor who plays him, is deaf and communicates through American Sign Language) came from Hawley's time living in Austin, Texas, near the Texas School for the Deaf. "As I was formulating the show, I kept seeing sign language around everywhere. And it's such a compelling and visual means of communication. But it's also a language that most people don't speak. So it creates an amazing amount of privacy for deaf people - to be surrounded by hearing people and to be able to communicate in a way that no one can really understand. And to put in a context where you might have characters coming in who can communicate in that way can be really unsettling for characters like Lester or other characters who are confronted. You know, there is a scene in the third episode where Russell's character confronts Lester directly - signs directly at him. And it feels very aggressive because it's a very - it is a very aggressive thing that he's saying but it's also - he knows someone's saying something to him. He doesn't understand. He can't respond. He doesn't know how to get out of that situation." Coincidentally, Russell Harvard graduated from the Texas School for the Deaf.