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Fargo Season 5, the long-running FX TV anthology, ended in January 2024. The series featured a rollercoaster of gunfights, people paying off debts, and discussions of wrongdoings.
Following the events of the penultimate episode, the finale kicks off with the escalating tensions at the Tillman ranch with an epic showdown between Sheriff Roy Tillman alongside his followers and law enforcement. Meanwhile, Dot Lyon, who escaped Roy's clutches at the end of episode 9, hides in the ranch.
Wrapping up all its ongoing storylines, including Dot being on the run from her husband for the second time, Dot shot Roy Tillman in the stomach, although that was not enough to kill the man.
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Disclaimer: This article contains significant spoilers for Fargo Season 5. Reader's discretion is advised.
Did Dot Lyon kill Sheriff Roy Tillman at the end of Fargo Season 5?
In the finale episode of Fargo Season 5, Roy Tillman (played by Jon Hamm) senses defeat. He tries to scamper off as the war breaks out and runs away from the FBI, who are closing in on his tail.
At first, it looks like Roy might escape but he bumps into his militia leader father-in-law, Odin Little (played by Michael Copeman), who had been mocking him and questioning his authority since the previous episode.
When they meet in the Fargo Season 5 finale, Odin continues to belittle Roy for his "weakness". The sheriff, fed up with his father-in-law's insults, slashes his throat. But Karen Tillman (played by Rebecca Liddiard) sees Roy killing Odin, putting a target on her back.
As Roy tries to chase her, Dot Lyon (played by Juno Temple) stands on the other side holding a rifle, with the edge pointed towards her ex-husband and abuser. Dot shoots him once in the gut, but before she can finish him off, the police arrive on the scene.
The shooting continues then, and Trooper Witt Farr (played by Lamorne Morris) dives on Dot to protect her, giving Roy enough time to escape using his secret tunnel. Meanwhile, Witt, who continues to uphold the responsibility of his uniform and badge, follows Roy's bloody trail to the underground tunnel.
Unlucky for him, Roy is armed with a very sharp knife, and before Witt can pull the trigger of his gun, Roy has already pounced on him. The corrupt sheriff drives the knife deep into his heart, eventually giving the trooper a quick, bloody death.
That said, their one-on-one in the FX show's finale had derailed Roy's escape, and the moment he hit the end of the secret tunnel that was supposedly going to bring him outside his compound, the FBI agents were already waiting for him. And once he was arrested in the Fargo Season 5 finale, Agents Meyer (played by Jessica Pohly) and Joaquin (played by Nick Gomez) smugly revealed who sold him out.
Who betrayed Roy Tillman and turned him over to the FBI?
In Fargo Season 5 Episode 9, Lorraine had already called for backup to raid the Tillman ranch. But, they would not have arrived on time to be waiting on Roy at the end of the tunnel, even with the delay he had with killing the trooper. In other words, someone had already called in the cavalry before Lorraine did.
During his arrest, Agents Meyer and Joaquin are feeling smug in sticking it to Roy that he's finally caught and will be spending his life behind bars. They tell him who ratted him out, saying:
"Your son gave you up, by the way."
While Roy Tillman and his son, Gator (played by Joe Keery), don't have the best relationship, Gator has been loyal to his father. He was the sheriff's right-hand man and would always do whatever he asked of him. However, time and time again, Roy never appreciated his son's efforts. Tired of his father's abuse and trying to earn his affection, he turned his dad over to the FBI.
Gator's turn against his father has been a gradual process, but many incidents from Fargo Season 5 episodes 9 and 10 put an increasing distrust in Gator's mind. For one, Dot reminded him that he wasn't named Roy, which he should have been if his father had followed the Tillman family tradition. In other words, Roy may still be planning on having someone else carry on his legacy and lineage.
Secondly, Dot reminded Gator that Roy murdered his mother, Linda. This fact may also have played a role in why he sold his father out. Roy leaving him for dead after Ole Munch (played by Sam Spruell) dumped him at the Ranch was the final nail in the coffin. It was ironic that only after Gator went blind could he see how cruel and heartless his father was, the same man he had respected and looked up to since he was young.
How did Lorraine take revenge against Roy in prison?
In the Fargo Season 5 finale, with Roy arrested and in jail, Dot reunites with her husband and daughter in Scandia, Minnesota. She also reunites with her stern billionaire mother-in-law, Lorraine Lyon (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh), and they share a hug.
A year after the war at the Tillman Ranch and Roy's arrest, Lorraine is ready to exact her revenge against the character who abused her daughter-in-law. Not someone to play by the books, Lorraine visits Roy at the federal prison, and it is clear to her that the former sheriff's legal punishment is simply not enough.
She thinks that he has to feel the intensity of the things he did to the women in his life. While she used her influence over the judge and jury to reject Roy's appeal over his sentence, Lorraine has one more ace she wants to play—she wants to make Roy's life in jail a living hell.
She's going to pay off the criminals inside the prison to regularly harass Roy, and inmates are only too willing to accept the payment, making Roy, for the first time in many years, look genuinely scared.
As Lorraine leaves the prison at the end of Fargo Season 5, she gives Roy one parting gift—a box of cigarettes, which he can use to bribe other inmates. But with Lorraine's wrath, a box of cigarettes might not be enough to keep him safe for a long time.
Catch all episodes of Fargo Season 5, including the past four seasons of the show, now streaming on Hulu, or rent or purchase via Prime Video and Apple TV.
