Emmit Stussy

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Emmit Stussy is the successful owner of a parking lot business in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. He celebrates his 25th wedding anniversary in 2010–2011. His younger brother Ray, a St. Cloud parole officer, asks him for money to marry his fiancée Nikki Swango, but Emmit refuses. Their father bequeathed to Emmit a rare stamp collection, which Emmit sold to start his business, while Ray received a Corvette Stingray. Ray feels Emmit took advantage of him; Emmit disputes this. Ray manipulates a parolee, Maurice LeFay, into stealing the last stamp from Emmit, but Maurice mistakenly kills an unrelated man named Ennis Stussy. Nikki later tries to steal the stamp herself but fails. Emmit's business partner Sy Feltz convinces him to cut Ray off financially. Ray and Nikki retaliate by stealing $10,000 from Emmit's bank accounts and sending a sex tape to Emmit's wife Stella, causing her to leave him. Emmit and Sy contact a shady organization they borrowed from, but V. M. Varga insists their loan was an "investment." Varga's men kill Emmit's lawyer Irv Blumkin. Varga takes control of an unused wing of Emmit's offices and persuades Emmit to expand the business. Emmit visits Ray to give him the stamp, but an argument ends with Emmit accidentally cutting Ray's throat with broken glass, killing him. Emmit calls Varga, who stages the scene to frame Nikki. Emmit confesses to police chief Gloria Burgle, but Varga prevents charges. Nikki confronts Emmit with a gun; a highway patrol officer intervenes, and both Nikki and the officer are killed, but Emmit escapes. Sy is poisoned by Varga and left with permanent brain damage. Emmit tries to back out of his dealings but finds Varga's organization has taken complete control of his company. Left with nothing, Emmit begs Stella's forgiveness and she takes him back.

In Their Own Story

In 2016, Emmit lives with his family under greatly reduced circumstances but is nonetheless happy. A title card notes he managed to turn a profit in his dealings with Varga, despite all that occurred. During Thanksgiving dinner, he goes to the kitchen and stops to look at a picture of himself and his family, including Sy, during happier times, and smiles. Ray is absent from all of these photos. At that moment, an assassin named Mr. Wrench — a friend of Nikki's, who had promised her that he would help her avenge Ray's murder — sneaks up behind Emmit as he looks into the refrigerator and shoots him in the back of the head, killing him, and avenging Nikki.

Reader's Guide

Ewan McGregor's performances as the Stussy brothers received critical acclaim, described as the stand-out of the season. On review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, the critical consensus is: "Thanks in part to a memorable dual performance from Ewan McGregor, Fargo mostly maintains the sly wit and off-kilter sensibility it displayed in its first two seasons." In 2018, McGregor won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film for his performance as the Stussy brothers in the third season of FX anthology series Fargo.

Did You Know?

• Emmit Stussy is portrayed by Ewan McGregor, who also plays his younger brother Ray Stussy.
• Emmit's father bequeathed him a rare stamp collection, which he sold to start his parking lot business.
• Emmit accidentally kills his brother Ray by cutting his throat with broken glass from a picture frame.
• Emmit is killed in 2016 by Mr. Wrench, a friend of Nikki Swango, who shoots him in the back of the head.
• Ewan McGregor won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film for his dual performance as the Stussy brothers.