Allison Tolman says it feels ‘bittersweet’ not to return for ‘Fargo’ season 2

TORONTO – Allison Tolman says it feels “bittersweet” to not be returning to FX’s “Fargo.”

Her plucky performance as Det. Molly Solverson won her hordes of fans and an Emmy nomination. But the second season will be set in the past, meaning Tolman and fellow stars including Colin Hanks won’t be back.

“I’m so sad to not be going back with them because it was such an incredible golden time for me,” said Tolman in a telephone interview.

“I’m also so thrilled and so thankful for the opportunity that this has opened up for me. I’m just really excited to see, if it’s not ‘Fargo,’ then what the next thing is. I can’t wait to see what the next thing is going to be.”

Showrunner Noah Hawley has admitted it’s a “crime and a tragedy” to let go of Tolman, a previously unknown actress whose Molly quickly won the hearts of fans and critics. But he said it would be “disingenuous” to give her character another wild, Coen brothers-esque case to solve, so he decided to set season 2 in 1979.

“I got my butt to L.A. pretty fast as soon as I found that out,” said Tolman with a laugh. “I certainly didn’t want to squander this awesome opportunity that I was afforded by landing this role … It feels like a lot of responsibility. There’s a big potential for a sophomore slump.”

Season 1 of “Fargo” is available on DVD and Blu-ray now. The 10-episode story followed Molly and another officer, Gus Grimly (Hanks), as they tried to solve a series of murders linked to hapless insurance salesman Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) and violent criminal Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton).

Tolman, 32, had been temping as a receptionist at a consulting firm for $11 an hour when she auditioned for Molly. She had moved to Chicago from Dallas about five years earlier to study at Second City’s famed comedy program.

She felt the chances of her landing the “Fargo” role were “far-fetched,” but she threw in a tape anyway. Tolman didn’t even tell her family and friends that she made it through callbacks. When Hawley finally phoned her to tell her she had won the part, she was “stunned.”

“I was very polite and then I told him I had to go back to work,” she said, laughing. “I did try to finish out my work day, but I couldn’t focus and had to just leave and start calling my family.

“I remember the distinct feeling of waking up the next morning. It was like when you have a really good dream where you bought a car or you won some money, and then you wake up and you’re like, ‘Oh, man, that was my dream.’ I remember distinctly feeling that way the next morning and thinking, ‘Oh God, did that really happen?’”

Tolman had been working as an actress for years, whether in theatre or commercials or improv and sketch comedy. But “Fargo” marked her first television series.

“My main concern was that I had never done this before and I wasn’t going to know the technical side of it. The acting part, I felt like, ‘OK, I know how to do that.’ I’ve been doing that. But I was so worried people were going to have to wait for me to catch up,” she said.

“But everyone was so patient and kind and generous with their knowledge. It was a steep learning curve, but I caught on pretty quickly. And it turned out I didn’t have any reason to be so intimidated because my co-stars were all really delightful, down-to-Earth people.”

While Molly is a courageous and kind Midwestern police officer, her character is totally different from Frances McDormand’s iconic Marge from the 1996 Joel and Ethan Coen film. Molly is also the hero of the show, the only officer capable of asking the right questions and recognizing the incompetence around her.

“I think the fact that Molly is at the beginning of her career and we’re watching her struggle professionally is really what defines her story. So Margie didn’t have the same struggles. She was already chief and she was already respected. She already had the skills that she needed in place to solve this crime,” said Tolman.

She largely credited the differences in the characters to the writers. But she added that she avoided rewatching the film until they were a few weeks into production, so that she wouldn’t be doing a “Frances McDormand impression.”

Tolman said she didn’t realize how instrumental her character would be in the storytelling until she received the script for episode two. She also didn’t anticipate how beloved Molly would be among fans and critics.

“I was mostly concerned with the show being well-received and well-loved, so I didn’t really think about this character and what that meant for me. So it was really awesome to watch people take to her so fondly and in turn take to me so fondly for bringing this character to life,” she said.

As a five-year resident of Chicago, she adjusted easily to shooting during Calgary’s frigid winter. She actually found the Alberta city a welcome change because of its near-constant sunshine, she said.

“I found that in Chicago, the hardest part of the winters for me was just how grey they are for so long. So I never really sunk into any sort of seasonal depression in Calgary because there was always so much sunshine,” she said.

Now that she’s moved to L.A., she may lose her tolerance for wintry weather, she admitted. So far, she’s filmed a guest spot on City’s “The Mindy Project” and done some voice work on FX’s animated series “Archer.”

“So little things here and there, and then I have a really great team of people that I’ve assembled around me to help me navigate this foreign land that I’m in,” she said. “I’m reading scripts and trying to find the next thing that’s the right step to take after ‘Fargo.’”

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