Gary Levin

USA TODAY

PASADENA, Calif. — Many people thought remaking Fargo, Joel and Ethan Coen’s classic film, was a terrible idea.

Including the actors who will play key roles in the third installment of the FX limited series, due in late April.

The first was set in 2006; the second jumped back to 1979. And the new 10-episode season jumps ahead to the technology-friendly 2010, and presents the latest Midwestern "true crime" story, whose details are yet unclear. Filming began Friday in Calgary, where temperatures hovered in the negative double digits last week.

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Star Ewan McGregor, who plays brothers Emmit and Ray Stussy, the “parking lot king of Minnesota” and a slightly younger, less-successful parole officer, respectively, hadn’t watched the show when he was approached for the roles, but quickly became “pretty obsessed about it.”

David Thewlis plays V.M. Vargas, an "ill-mannered, Machiavellian" character from a nearby town, he says.

And "my guy is called Sy Feltz," says Michael Stuhlbarg, Emmit's partner and confidant, who also has a history with Ray. "He finds himself in and out of their relationship in some interesting ways."

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As with previous Fargo actors, “The challenge is to master that accent, which is very difficult to lock into,” says Scottish actor McGregor. “It’s the hardest one I’ve ever done,” he says.

Carrie Coon plays Gloria Burgle, the Eden Valley, Minn., sheriff, the moral center of the show (as usual) whose “personal life is eroding,” Coon says.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Nikki Swango, a parolee who’s “smart and savvy, with the capacity for conniving” and a dark side," she says. “But she has a heart.”

While last season was "a large war," says executive producer Warren Littlefield, "the important thing about Season 3 is there's more intimacy. We're a smaller cast, which allows us to go deeper into these characters."