A cold winter will be welcomed in Beiseker this year as the village prepares to transform into Eden Valley, Minnesota for the filming of the third season of the critically-acclaimed television show Fargo.

A cold winter will be welcomed in Beiseker this year as the village prepares to transform into Eden Valley, Minnesota for the filming of the third season of the critically-acclaimed television show Fargo.

Robert Hilton, lead location manager on the production, told a crowd of approximately 50 people at a town hall meeting Nov. 14 he had been advocating for Beiseker to be a part of Fargo since the first season.

With the third season set in Eden Valley, he said the showrunner and executive producers loved how closely Beiseker resembled the small Minnesota city.

“The town fits absolutely perfect to the story,” Hilton said. “We couldn’t build it better in a back lot.”

According to Hilton, Fargo is a “thematic continuation” of the 1996 film of the same name written and directed by the Coen Brothers.

Though the cast of characters changes with each season, Hilton said the story is always framed by a crime that takes people “past the boundaries of society” and explores the consequences of going that far.

In the third season, Hilton said brothers Emmitt and Ray Stussy – both played by Ewan McGregor – could not be more different.

Hilton said everything in life seems to work out for Emmitt while Ray always gets the rotten end. When their father dies, Hilton said Ray is given a stamp while Emmitt is given a Corvette.

Unaware the rare stamp is worth a lot of money, he said Ray trades it to Emmitt for the car.

“It’s the whole idea of perception,” Hilton said. “That is what leads Ray down this certain path of consequences.”

With filming scheduled for Jan. 6 to May 13, he said Beiseker could expect the production to be shot in a “block” consisting of two episodes at a time.

The crew would conduct anywhere from one to three days of filming in the village before disappearing to other locations throughout Alberta, Hilton said.

The full unit – or “circus,” as he describes the mile and a half nose-to-nose length of the production’s work trucks – would then return to shoot the next block in two to three weeks.

“It’s not a constant, continuous barrage of us,” he said.

With the story set roughly between Dec. 13, 2010 to Jan. 7, 2011, Hilton said they would dress Beiseker to look like Christmas from January to May. Snow is central, he added.

Though it’s unfortunate for the rest of Alberta, Hilton said the production hopes the farmers are right about a bad winter.

“That’s what we want,” he said.

Beiseker Mayor Ray Courtman said he was very pleased Fargo decided to choose the village to film its third season.

Voicing his concern for the loss of some businesses along Main Street earlier this year, Courtman said the production could convince potential entrepreneurs that Beiseker is open for business and a good place to set up shop.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “I have my fingers crossed that it may lead to something else, which may lead to something else.”

Hilton said writer and showrunner Noah Hawley described Fargo as a 10-hour movie rather than a 10-episode television show.

The difference is down to the detail and quality, he said, and that includes being as good a guest in Beiseker as the production can be.

“You’re a part of the Fargo family,” Hilton said to the crowd in Beiseker. “If something isn’t OK, I want to hear about it.”