[Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for Fargo: Year 5.]

The Big Picture

Juno Temple felt pressure to live up to the legacy of strong female characters in ‘Fargo,’ but she also saw it as an exciting opportunity. The puppet show scene in Season 5 was a genius way to tell Dot’s tragic backstory without having to show it in live-action. Temple thought the season ending was the most brilliant she’s read in a long time.

With any other TV series, a shared moment between a Midwestern mother who would do anything for her family and a mysterious and dangerous man that could be centuries old would never work. But when it comes from the mind of show creator Noah Hawley and it’s transported into the world of Fargo with its blend of quirky, tragic and magical, it turns into a genuinely emotional moment in a brilliant finale for a truly standout season.

Set in Minnesota and North Dakota in 2019, the fifth installment of the series follows Dorothy “Dot” Lyon (Juno Temple) as she finds herself in a bit of trouble involving her past. Being on the radar of North Dakota Sheriff Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm), someone she very much does not want back in her life, has turned Dot’s simple Midwestern existence upside down, leading her to want to fight for her family by any means necessary.

During this interview with Collider, Temple talked about getting the opportunity to explore such an incredible character, the most challenging and most fun things she got to do as Dot Lyon, how honored she was to be part of the Fargo legacy, the wild experience of seeing herself in puppet form, the final exchange between Dot and Ole Munch (Sam Spruell), the emotional character death that deeply affected her, and the triumph of Dot earning the respect of her mother-in-law Lorraine (Jennifer Jason Leigh). She also talked about being a fan of the Venom movies and why she wanted to sign on for Venom 3.

Fargo Various chronicles of deception, intrigue, and murder in and around frozen Minnesota. All of these tales mysteriously lead back one way or another to Fargo, North Dakota. Release Date April 15, 2014 Main Genre Crime Seasons 5 Studio FX

Juno Temple Says Playing Her ‘Fargo’ Character Was an Honor
Image via FX

Collider: Watching you in this season was just so absolutely delightful.

JUNO TEMPLE: What an amazing experience. What a character. A character like Dot doesn’t come along very often, so the fact that (show creator) Noah [Hawley] believed in me to live in her shoes, or bare feet, was a true honor and something that I am gonna be forever grateful for.

Because you really are always so good at everything I’ve seen you do, this is the type of role that I’ve been dying to see you do because it has some of everything. It has comedy, drama, tragedy, you being a bit of a bad ass, getting to fight for yourself physically, saving the day with kindness, and being someone who just loves her family. What was the most unexpectedly challenging aspect of playing her? And similarly, what was the most unexpectedly fun aspect of playing her?

TEMPLE: I’m going to go with a slightly lighter hard moment. Setting someone on fire, I did that for real. I don’t need to do it again. My God, the stunt department on this show is next level, but that was a horrific experience. Luckily nothing went wrong, thank God, but that was really tough. There were certain sequences that we were filming where I would find it challenging to keep the emotions in because I felt so deeply for a lot of the different characters and very much for my family in the show. I needed the guidance from Noah of, “No, we’re not allowed to see that yet. It’s coming, but it’s not yet. Not now. Not at this moment.” Thank God he helped me through that because I think it was really important, you know, but I’m such an emotional person, I can’t help it sometimes.

Weirdly, I actually enjoyed doing the climbing up on the roof and running, and that kind of stunty stuff. I enjoyed that a lot more than I thought I was going to. I’m not a fully method actor. I’m definitely not. Can you imagine, I would have died many a death at this point, if I was. But I can’t help but really live in the character as much as I can without it taking over my life entirely. It was extraordinary how different characters affected Dot in scenes in ways that I didn’t know was gonna happen. I just thought the entire cast was truly exceptional and it was a privilege to get to work with them on this.

Juno Temple Was a Fan of ‘Fargo’ Before Becoming A Part of That World Herself
Image via FX

Fargo has an incredible legacy of strong, complex female characters from Frances McDormand’s Marge Gudnerson in the movie to Kirsten Dunst’s Peggy Blumquist and Carrie Coon’s Gloria Burgle in the TV series. How aware were you of that legacy? Was that something that was on your radar? Did you feel pressure to live up to that once you signed on to do this?

TEMPLE: Yes! When that moment comes into your life, when you have Noah Hawley reach out to you personally and ask if you’ll read some of his scripts to maybe come and do his show if you liked it, is intimidating. I watched the movie Fargo when I was 14 or 15, and it’s one of the movies I’ve watched over 50 times in my life. I watched it a lot whilst we were shooting this chapter of Fargo because it was such an homage to the movie. And I checked in on No Country for Old Men a few times. I had also watched all the different seasons of Fargo prior to this one, way before I thought Fargo was gonna come into my universe. So, I was hyper aware of the fucking insanely talented shoes that had already been filled. Each chapter of this show is a masterclass in acting and a masterclass in writing, lighting, directing, and every aspect of it. Getting to be a part of that was, of course, terrifying, but also one of the most exciting moments of my career thus far because it is something that feels like being a part of a legacy.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s just perfection that your name and the character that you played is now among that list.

TEMPLE: I’m still pinching myself about it. I was watching it each week, as it was coming out. I didn’t watch them all before, and by the end of each episode, I couldn’t wait for the next one. And I got to watch all these performances that I hadn’t actually been on set for and the emotional journeys that I was taken on. I would do it all over again tomorrow, to be honest with you.

What was your reaction to the puppet and the whole puppet show concept? What was it like to see the puppet?

TEMPLE: I’ve got some good pictures of me with the puppet somewhere. It’s pretty wild to see a little creation that looks like you. I actually did all the narration. I did all the voices for the puppet show in ADR, so that was the first time I saw the puppet show play out. I didn’t know that they were gonna use all of my voices until I watched episode seven. Honestly, I thought it was absolutely genius to tell such a horrific and heartbreaking backstory to a character that we had been following, believing that she was going to survive and be able to be with her family, and just love and enjoy her husband and her daughter. And then, you see this backstory and I thought it was genius to tell it through a puppet show. I’m so happy we didn’t have to watch that in live-action. I thought that was a really brilliant way to do that.

When Dot comes home and finds this mysterious man in her living room with her husband, do you think she knows in that moment just how dangerous that whole situation is? Is she someone who is consciously making the effort to keep the whole thing from becoming a disaster, or does that kindness just naturally shine through her?

TEMPLE: I think she knows it could be dangerous, but I think she also knows that he knows how dangerous she can be. They mutually understand that there is an equal ability between the two of them. I think she knows that he has kindness, it’s just that nobody has given it to him in potentially centuries. I think she knows that he respects her, and she really respects him. The kindness is genuine, but I think it’s also coming from a place of wanting to remind him of the kindness that he has too.

Juno Temple Thought the ‘Fargo’ Season 5 Finale Episode Was Brilliant
Image via FX

I’ve never been so emotional over a scene with a biscuit, which would only happen on a show like Fargo. There’s just something so beautiful about that whole sequence. What was that like to shoot?

TEMPLE: It was the last scene we shot. It was an emotional rollercoaster, the last 12 hours of this installment, and that was the last scene we shot. Can you imagine? It was insane. It was fucking magic. When we got that script, all of us were like, “Well, that is probably the most brilliant ending I’ve read in a long time, or maybe ever.” We got to play that out and feel out the beats and try it in different ways. At that point, we all had such deep connections. When Munch helps Dot out of that death hole and gives her that act of kindness, it ended up being so much more emotional than we thought it was gonna be. It was really interesting to then bring that into the dinner. The characters were constantly surprising me, and that’s down to the brilliant people that inhabited them too. But also, the way that Dot is, the man she fell in love with, and the daughter that they’re raising, it’s about being kind and sharing things and leading your life with an open heart. That really shows in that sequence and yeah, it definitely tore us to shreds shooting it.

Do you think that Dot really did make the oatmeal raisin cookies and brought them to Gator in jail?

TEMPLE: Absolutely. I think she’ll probably do it every Sunday and she’ll take Scotty. She’s not gonna bullshit him. No way.

Juno Temple Was As Emotional About That ‘Fargo’ Character Death as Viewers Were
Image via FX

One of the only things that upset me about the finale was Witt Farr being killed. It was such a sad moment because he’s this good guy who’s just trying to help Dot. What did you most enjoy about that dynamic? What was it like to work with Lamorne Morris? How hard was it to lose him?

TEMPLE: He is such a brilliant actor. He is so different in this to anything else and he’s filled with kindness. That was another character that surprised me, many times. There was a beat when he was one of the characters that made me emotional when I wasn’t supposed to be. Working with him was a place where Dot, even though feeling unsafe because she doesn’t want him to tell the truth yet, but she knows that he cares, felt safe. This actually ended up happening when we were shooting on the day, when we have the crossover in the first episode with the tourniquet beat, where she’s been this feral fighter, but in the midst of all of that, she is a nurturer. That was a beat with him that we ended up finding on the day, and it was so important. That meant a lot to him and his character, and that’s when he brings it back. I was devastated when I read the moment that Witt Farr dies. I will say, I did have a funny time talking about it with Lamorne because he was practicing his death and he was debating how long he was gonna take because it was his first death scene. He was a very special character for Dot and a very special actor to work with, for me.

It’s pretty clear that Lorraine does not properly see Dot for who she is and what she’s capable of. It’s so interesting to see her when Dot finally gets back home because we get that moment where this woman who is so cold now has some respect for Dot. Do you think Dot was even seeking that from her, or do you think that surprised her?

TEMPLE: One of the things that Dot wants, from the very beginning, is a mother figure, and obviously Lorraine is absolutely not giving it. It’s not in the forefront of her mind, but I think it’s something that Dot’s not gonna give up on. Lorraine pisses her off. She also frightens Lorraine, or at least disarms her, quite quickly, which was a great beat to play. That’s when Lorraine realizes that Dot also has the potential to be dangerous. But ultimately, it starts to open her thought process to Dot being a little more similar to her than she may have liked to believe. And then, Indira is the one that obviously ends up really solidifying that thought process. That moment when Dot is trying to get away from the Tillman Ranch and she’s on the phone with Lorraine, the reason why she’s saying, “I need this, I need to know why you care,” she genuinely wants to know, in that moment, why Lorraine would care if she comes home or not, and I don’t think she was expecting that. That beat means more to Dot than Lorraine will probably ever know. Imagine if Scotty was playing a hockey game and she was losing, and she’d slipped and missed a goal, she’d run to her mum and her mum would be like, “You can do this. I know you can.” It was that version that Dot needed in that moment, and Lorraine gave it to her and she fucking meant it, too. It’s the first time that Dot has earned that respect.

Related Juno Temple Loved the Scary Challenge of ‘Fargo’s Dark Humor Jennifer Jason Leigh also talks about the fun of playing someone that you don’t possess inside you.

Juno Temple Was a Fan of the Previous Movies Prior to Signing on For ‘Venom 3’
Image via FX

I don’t know how you say goodbye to characters like Dot or like Keeley in Ted Lasso because they’re just so fantastic. The one thing I find so interesting about you doing something like Venom 3 is that everything you do has a bit of an unexpected feel to it. Does that role feel the same way? Is that something you always look for?

TEMPLE: Yeah, it is, definitely. I never want to feel like anything is easy, and I’ve never done a single job that I’ve found easy. I also want to try everything. The previous Venoms, I’ve actually really enjoyed them and I like the battle of the inside voice with this alien. There’s something about that, that touches on mental health stuff, that I’m definitely personally drawn to. Obviously, I can’t say a word, but I think and I hope that she will surprise people.

Fargo: Year 5 is available to stream on Hulu. Check out this Dot Lyon tease:

Watch on Hulu