Is Fargo really Fargo if it doesn’t feature a cop (or two) with a heart of gold? While not all law enforcement is good in the FX anthology’s world, there was no questioning Witt Farr’s (Lamorne Morris) morality upon meeting him in Year 5’s premiere episode.
Acknowledging the danger kidnapped housewife Dorothy “Dot” Lyon (Juno Temple) finds herself in, Witt steps up to try and help release her from the clutches of a bitter ex who is determined to be repaid for a “debt” he feels he’s owed. The polar opposite of Jon Hamm‘s sideways sheriff, Roy Tillman, Witt puts his life on the line for positive change.
Helping to deliver Witt’s moving character arc is New Girl vet Lamorne Morris, the subject of TV Insider’s latest Scene Study, in which he takes a look back at the moment in Episode 8, “Blanket,” when Witt runs into Dot and Roy at a hospital and realizes she’s being kidnapped for a second time.
Michelle Faye/FX
In the video, above, Morris watches the moment unfold and weighs in, revealing behind-the-scenes info on what went into making the moment come to life. “At this point, you hadn’t seen my character in quite some time, and some of the fans were like, ‘What happened to Witt?’” Morris recalls, acknowledging the fact that his character hadn’t appeared since Episode 4, “Insolubilia,” before resurfacing in Episode 8. “Lo and behold, here he is to at least attempt to complete his mission of saving Dorothy.”
After walking a perp into an emergency room, Witt notices Dot at the front check-out desk next to Roy, who is agitated and uncooperative as Witt questions whether Dot is okay and if he can help her. “This is also my first time working with Jon Hamm,” Morris reveals. “There are some other scenes that had been cut out of earlier episodes that we never even got a chance to shoot where I was supposed to meet Jon initially. Being around him more definitely helped me,” Morris says of his performance. “He is an intimidating person. He is very tall, has a weirdly deep voice.”
Morris notes the Western showdown feel to the moment though, “[It’s] a little bit of an old school showdown. You know what I mean?… I’m too young to have been in Clint Eastwood movies, but this is as good as it gets.”
Frank W Ockenfels III/FX
As Morris recalls, the scene started out influenced by the location. “We shot this in Calgary… In fact, at the beginning of the scene where I’m bringing the drunk guy in who’s singing… We were slipping a lot outside. His drunkenness was actually… part of it was real.” Morris jokes as he adds the slipping and sliding on the icy ground outside the hospital waiting room didn’t distract from the intensity of the high-stakes moment for his character, Witt.
“You don’t know what’s going to happen. We see Roy’s there, he’s going to get her. We assume the worst, obviously, and that’s obviously what ends up transpiring,” Morris continues, noting Dot’s ultimate kidnapping and Witt’s hero moment in the finale.
While Morris believes Witt was in the right place at the right time in this scene, as viewers know, his entanglement with Roy, Dot, and their tumultuous situation doesn’t ultimately benefit him. But for the actor, he says, “That’s up there with one of my favorite scenes for sure, and I had a great time shooting it.”
As for whether or not Morris knew the fate of his character heading into the latest chapter of Noah Hawley‘s anthology, “They’ll give you the arc of the character. If you want to know your character’s fate, they’ll tell you, but we weren’t too sure in the beginning,” the actor explains. “As time was going on, it would switch, it would go back and forth,” Morris notes, hinting that death wasn’t necessarily always in the cards for Witt.
Over the course of the season, it became clearer that “Witt was kind of the heart of this season, and what better ending than to kill the one with the most heart?” Morris notes, adding that it’s a tragic end fitting of the world of Fargo. “They thought this one made the most sense. You can go down a list of other characters and see why it may not have been as impactful if you [had] killed them… But some of these characters are running into danger, and my character is trying to help someone out of it… He’s got to save the day.”
While Witt does help Dot escape her abuser Roy, he must also contend with Roy’s loose-cannon son Gator (Joe Keery), who also appears in the hospital scene from Episode 8. As one watches the show, one can’t help but notice Witt’s hesitation and skittishness around Gator as opposed to Roy. This was an intentional detail though as Morris says, “With the Gator character, I know he’s young and stupid, so usually what comes with young and stupid is they’re irresponsible. Even with a white supremacist sheriff like Roy Tillman, at least he has this age about him where… he’s not dumb enough to do something in broad daylight that will get him in trouble, but Gator would.”
“Gator is a bit unhinged,” Morris says plainly. “Roy’s got a bigger agenda and I’m onto that. So yeah, you do have to suss them out differently, even though Roy is far more dangerous in the grand scheme of things, and Gator is like a little lost puppy in a way.”
See what else he’s sharing about his Fargo role in the full video interview, above, and don’t miss Morris as Witt Farr in Year 5 of the anthology series, which is streaming now.
Fargo, Year 5, Streaming now, Hulu