"What's really interesting about this exercise of emulating a movie, as a storyteller, is having available to me a whole body of work," the Emmy-nominated showrunner tells THR.

Fresh off the impressive news of his miniseries' 18 Emmy nominations, Fargo creator Noah Hawley is now probably feeling a bit of heat for that follow-up.

Though the showrunner, who adapted the Coen Brothers' 1996 film to much applause, has not officially gotten a green light for second installment, its Emmy clout and his overall deal with FX Productions make it something of a given.

PHOTOS Complete 2014 Emmy Nominees

"In success, no one ever really does a mic drop and walks away," Hawley told The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday morning. "If I told FX that it was my best work, they would be thrilled with the success of it right now. But I feel like I'm close on a new idea for another Fargo 10-hour idea that we'll talk about in the coming weeks."

The shape of Fargo 2.0, however, is less certain. Hawley was naturally guarded about what he's considering and couldn't speak to any possible returns for his heavily-nominated cast, but he did imply that he'd like to linger in a world adjacent to his original source material.

STORY The Complete List of Emmy Nominees

"What's really interesting about this exercise of emulating a movie, as a storyteller, is having available to me a whole body of work," he says. "The Coen brothers are so varied — from Raising Arizona to A Serious Man, there's so much."

One thing that can be said for whatever Hawley and FX do next is that it won't stray far from the detective drama at the heart of this first time at bat. "What is the inspiration this season? It's always going to be rooted in true crime," he adds. "There will always be grisly murder with good versus evil."

