When it came to Fargo ‘s fifth chapter, no character was more perplexing than Sam Spruell ‘s sin-eater Ole Munch, who donned a kilt and did other people’s dirty work for a price. And when they couldn’t pay up? He sought satisfaction through more biblical means. First hired by Jon Hamm ‘s Roy Tillman to kidnap his runaway wife Dorothy “Dot” Lyon ( Juno Temple ), Ole Munch quickly becomes a foe to the rogue sheriff and his son Gator ( Joe Keery ), when they refuse to properly pay him for his efforts after Dot attacked him, left his cohort dead, and put him out.
When Gator accidentally kills the old woman he’d taken up residence with, Ole Munch takes the boy’s eyes out with a hot poker. Proving to be ruthless, it is ultimately Dot’s kindness that sets him on a new path after years of loneliness and the weight of the sins he’d been forced to carry. Below, Spruell opens up about taking on the other-worldly role, discusses his approach to a character with minimal dialogue, and weighs in on whether he’d like to see Ole Munch return in possible future chapters of Noah Hawley ‘s FX anthology series.
How was Ole Munch presented to you as a character, and how did you build on that interpretation for the screen? Sam Spruell: There was a description in the script that was pretty vivid, but it was really when I spoke to Noah, that he gave me the full rundown. He began maybe in Wales, lived in Scandinavia, came over from Scandinavia to America. He’s 500 years old.
