After playing a drug mule in The Mule, Angus Sampson is staying on the wrong side of the law with a recurring role iin the second season of Fargo.
The LA-based Sampson is cast as a member of the Gerhardt crime family in the sequel to the series inspired by the Coen brothers' movie, which starred Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Allison Tolman, and Colin Hanks and aired on the FX network in the US and here on SBS.
His character Bear Gerhardt is described as an intimidatingly large, inarticulate man who happens to be the most decent of the clan.
Shooting of the 10-episode series starts in in Calgary on January 19, forcing Sampson to relinquish the job of hosting the 4th AACTA Awards luncheon in Sydney on January 27.
Writer/actor/producer/director Adam Zwar (Agony Aunts, Lowdown and Wilfred) will host the luncheon. Zwar said: “My role is to make sure the right awards get handed to the right people and everyone gets to the after-party on time. Now all I need to do is lose 5 kilos so I can fit into my tux.”
Fargo season 2 is set in 1979 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Luverne, Minnesota and stars Patrick Wilson as young patrolman and Vietnam veteran Lou Solverson (played by Keith Carradine in the first series), who investigates a case involving a local crime gang and a major Mob syndicate.
The cast includes Ted Danson as Lou’s father-in-law Sherriff Hank Larsson, Jean Smart as the crime family matriarch Floyd Gerhardt, Kirsten Dunst as a beautician with big-city dreams, Jesse Plemons as her husband, Ed, a butcher’s assistant, and Nick Offerman as a shady lawyer. Bear's brothers are being played by Jeffrey Donovan and Kieran Culkin.
Sampson has three films set for release in 2015. He reprises his role as a paranormal investigator in Leigh Whannell’s Insidious: Chapter 3, he plays a villain in Wayne Hope’s Australian comedy Now Add Honey, and he’s a character named the Organic Mechanic in George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road.
The soon-to-launch streaming service Stan has exclusive SVoD rights to Fargo as part of its deal with MGM.