Entertainment

Meet Ewan McGregor's 'Fargo' Character

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Noah Hawley is having quite the year. Just as his new Marvel comics series Legion is earning rave reviews for FX in its freshman season, he's also gearing up for the newest installment of his anthology series on the same network. The new Fargo Season 3 teaser is here to get us all even more pumped for its impending premiere. While we've previously seen a Fargo promo involving a snowy neighborhood, a well-timed gunshot, and a slowly deflating Santa, that was more of a mood-setter than a plot-teaser; this new footage (titled "Diner") is the first we've actually glimpsed of the Fargo Season 3 cast in action as their characters, including an unrecognizable Ewan McGregor.

In the newly-released footage, two unsavory types eat at the counter of a diner, only to become visibly uncomfortable and leave as soon as a female police officer enters the establishment. The most readily identifiable person in this promo is Carrie Coon as officer Gloria Burgle, whose short-cropped hair is similar to how viewers likely remember her from her roles as Nora Durst on HBO's The Leftovers or Margot Dunne in Gone Girl.

Compared to her, you may have trouble even recognizing who the other two actors in the scene are — but they're the season's other two major players, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (with the 10 Cloverfield Lane actress sporting a short black dye job to portray "crafty" recent parolee Nikki Swango) and Ewan McGregor (who looks utterly unfamiliar in the fat suit and balding wig that help transform him into Nikki's parole officer, Ray Stussy).

While both of the show's prior installments were period pieces — with Season 1 (starring Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Allison Tolman, and Colin Hanks) taking place a decade ago in 2006 and Season 2 (starring Patrick Wilson, Kirsten Dunst, Jean Smart, and Ted Danson) taking place even earlier in 1979 — Season 3 will be the closest thing Fargo has had yet to a contemporary iteration. Picking up several years after the events of Season 1, the new batch of episodes will take place in 2010 and center on the exploits of a pair of twins, one a handsome real estate mogul and one a potbellied parole officer. (Naturally, we can assume that violent mishaps, comedic crimes, and more than a few murders will ensue.)

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It's probably safe to assume that, in his dual role as Ray's brother Emmit, McGregor will look more like his typically handsome self; but it's still jarring to see him in costume as the schlubby Ray. And it's clear from the shifty behavior of both Ray and Nikki that Season 3 will see this unlikely duo get up to no good — a fact that's not-so-subtly hinted at by the neon "DINER" sign outside the restaurant ominously flickering out to conveniently spell the word "DIE."

Of course, they won't be the only familiar faces viewers see when they tune into the show's third season: other cast members of the new installment also include David Thewlis (Harry Potter), Jim Gaffigan (The Jim Gaffigan Show), Scoot McNairy (Halt And Catch Fire), Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire), Michael Stuhlbarg (Boardwalk Empire), and Hamish Linklater (The Newsroom). You can see all of them in action when Fargo Season 3 premieres on Wednesday, Apr. 19.