How ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Became Part of Year 5

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Fargo Year 5, Episodes 1-3.]

When it comes to Fargo, the series isn’t one you’d expect to pull blatant influences from other popular culture, but Year 5 is flipping the script a bit with its Nightmare Before Christmas influences.

As viewers who tuned into the first three episodes saw, and heard, there is more than one allusion to the Tim Burton stop-motion animated classic. The first tease occurs while Dot (Juno Temple) attempts to sleep after being booked by the police in the first installment, “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Fearful about what might be coming for her, we see a flash of masked individuals donning the likeness of Jack Skellington and other characters from the film.

(Credit: FX)

And as the second episode, “Trials and Tribulations,” comes to a close, Dot sits down to dinner with her husband Wayne (David Rysdahl) and daughter Scotty (Sienna King) at the moment Danny Elfman‘s “This Is Halloween,” a song from the film, begins playing. The music continues to play out as Gator (Joe Keery) and his partner are driving and make a pit stop at the gas station where Dot managed to escape her kidnappers.

When Episode 3, “The Paradox of Intermediate Transactions,” aired, viewers got a closer look at Gator and his pals masked up as characters from the movie as they’re tasked with kidnapping Dot on Halloween. Pulling up to her house, Dot looks out at the mysterious van where Gator is in the passenger seat. With him leaning forward while wearing the Jack Skellington mask, there’s a looming sense of danger.

But in a show that could have utilized any kind of masks for this sequence, series creator Noah Hawley has a special reason for the movie’s influence over certain elements of the show for Year 5. “Well, it’s just a very specific choice,” Hawley admits to TV Insider. “It’s a sort of personal choice for a movie that we love in my house, and it manages to both be a Christmas and a Halloween movie.”

“You can watch it twice a year if you want to,” Hawley points out. “And I knew I wanted to center [Dot’s] story around Halloween because of what it affords her in defending her home and the costumes, that they can literally wear bulletproof vests and carry zombie killers. And what it affords for Roy when he realizes they can come for her wearing masks and people don’t question stuff on Halloween.”

“It’s just the instinct for that film,” Hawley says. Additionally, he notes, “And we had to get Tim Burton’s permission.” Clearly, Burton approved.

When it came to the combination of the music from Danny Elfman and masks for Gator’s crew, Hawley says, “There’s something interesting to me about the collision of the two stories, and that feels unique… I like those homages, those structural conceits.”

But it goes beyond serving the story as Hawley reveals, “I know my kids are going to grow up one day and watch Fargo, and then it’ll be very personal for them.” As viewers saw in Episode 3’s final moments, the masks are sure to get more screen time as Dot’s home and family are at risk. Stay tuned to see how it all unfolds as Fargo Year 5 continues.

Fargo, Year 5, Tuesdays, 10/9c, FX