While almost every television series currently in production has been suspended for the time being amid the coronavirus outbreak, FX’s Fargo is the first to go ahead and alter its schedule.

Shadow And Act has learned that the fourth season of the acclaimed anthology series, toplined by Chris Rock, will no longer premiere next month.

“Due to the postponement of production related to the coronavirus, the fourth installment of FX’s award-winning limited series Fargo will no longer premiere on Sunday, April 19th.  A new premiere date will be determined once production resumes,” says a network statement received by S&A.

We hear that physical production had been completed on eight out of the season’s ten episodes. The new season has not received a new premiere date, but it will be late enough in the television season that the show and its actors will not qualify for the 2019-2020 Emmy cycle. The goal is still that it will premiere before the calendar year is over. The fourth season is set to chronicle two feuding crime syndicates–one Black American and one Italian American–in 1950s Missouri at the end of the Great American migration.

This is a huge move in the sense that other networks are likely to follow suit and announce that they will debut later in the year (or potentially next year) as well. Fargo was one of the most anticipated series of the year, given that the series last aired a new season in 2017. The show and Chris Rock were already earning buzz and the show’s ensemble included the likes of Ben Whishaw, Uzo Aduba, Glynn Turman, Jessie Buckley and Amber Midthunder.

Something to also consider is that a show like Fargo, one that had already begun to ramp up publicity with a trailer and had filmed the majority of its season, can be impacted by the recent domino effect of production suspensions. Given the fact that most pilots for the 2020-2021 season had not even started shooting, the traditional television season will likely be delayed and at the very least, it may not be wise to expect new or returning television series to debut at their usual times in the fall.

Other April premieres that have wrapped production, such as Insecure and FX on Hulu’s Mrs. America, will air as scheduled, but all later premieres in other months could be up in the air.

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‘Fargo’ Season 4 Trailer: Chris Rock Is A 1950s Missouri Crime Boss

Photo: FX