Written by on Apr 29, 2015. Posted in On Location

Fargo TV series films fake snow against mild Calgary winter

The production team on the new series of the TV adaptation of Fargo have had to adjust to this year’s mild Alberta winter by using fake snow to create the iconic mid-western setting. Season Two of Fargo is set a decade before the first and will tell a new story with different characters.

Calgary was chosen for Fargo for its combination of filming incentive support and estimated snowfall dates, conditions that were needed to mirror the iconic visuals of the Coen Brothers’ original Oscar-winning movie.

First series filming at the height of a harsh Alberta winter in fact had to be halted at one point as temperatures plummeted to -40 Degrees Celsius.

The new season was scheduled towards the end of winter so that the start of the spring thaw could become a part of the story, the Calgary Herald reports. However, this winter has been milder and so producers have had to adapt.

“Last year was sensational,” the show’s LA-based producer Warren Littlefield told the outlet: “This was a challenge. We found ourselves, at times, making snow and having to go inside to stages, running out of things we could shoot on stage, trying to keep winter’s presence when Chinooks (warming winds) were destroying it.

“We love Calgary. The overwhelming number of crew comes from here and it’s been a great place to work. This year we didn’t have quite the winter we needed and expected.”

The Fargo team has built its own stages in existing warehouse facilities. Future productions coming to Alberta will have access to purpose-built sound stages at the Calgary Film Centre, an 80,000 sq ft production space scheduled to open later this year.

Archive interview: Fargo miniseries braves freezing Alberta winter filming on location in Calgary

(Image: Matthias Clamer/FX Networks)