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Chris Rock to star in season 4 of FX crime anthology 'Fargo'

'Fargo' will mark Chris Rock's first major role in a television series since his stint in 'Saturday Night Live.'

Season 4 of Noah Hawley's popular black comedy-crime anthology series 'Fargo' will feature comedian Chris Rock in a starring role. The news was announced by FX on Friday at the summer Television Critics Association press tour, with the new season tentatively set for a 2019 release.

According to ET, the upcoming season has been billed as "a story of immigration and assimilation, as well as the power of money," and will see Rock play the head of a family. In order to prosper, his character will have to surrender his oldest son to his enemy, who in turn, must raise his son's enemy as his own. FX writes that "It's an uneasy peace, but profitable," and that "When the head of the Kansas City mafia goes into the hospital for routine surgery and dies, everything changes."

An official description for the season reads: "In 1950, at the end of two great American migrations -- that of Southern Europeans from countries like Italy, who came to the U.S. at the turn of the last century and settled in northern cities like New York, Chicago -- and African Americans who left the south in great numbers to escape Jim Crow and moved to those same cities -- you saw a collision of outsiders, all fighting for a piece of the American dream."

"In Kansas City, Missouri, two criminal syndicates have struck an uneasy peace. One Italian, one African American. Together they control an alternate economy -- that of exploitation, graft, and drugs. This too is the history of America. To cement their peace, the heads of both families have traded their eldest sons."

Addressing his casting in a statement, Rock said: "I’m a fan of Fargo and I can’t wait to work with [creator] Noah Hawley." 'Fargo' will be Rock's first major role in a television series since his stint in 'Saturday Night Live' put him on the map as one of the country's more promising comedians. He has since gone to win four Emmy Awards and was voted as the fifth-greatest stand-up comedian in a poll conducted by Comedy Central. 

FX had announced in January of this year that the fourth season was already in development and set for a release next year was refuted by one of the executive producers, Warren Littlefield. Littlefield says that the latest season will not go under production until the fall of 2019, making a release that year all but impossible. Creator Noah Hawley has similarly dampened any such expectations in the past, stating that the show returning in 2019 was 'a long shot.'