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Making a TV show, whether it is for broadcast or streaming, involves countless small choices that seem incidental, but fans have been trained to assume there are no coincidences. So, when Joe Kerry’s character in Fargo picked up a baseball bat filled with nails, viewers immediately thought this was a nod to his Stranger Things character’s weapon of choice. The similarities weren’t lost on the actor, but he says fans shouldn’t read into it too much.

The prop in question has been the subject of speculation among Fargo fans since it first appeared in the fourth episode of season five. Joe Kerry immediately recognized it, even if series creator and director Noah Hawley has maintained that the allusion to Netflix’s Stranger Things was completely unintentional. Kerry apparently didn’t mention anything on set. “I didn’t say anything, because I was like, he either knows or he doesn’t know and [it] doesn’t matter. I thought it was funny and a weird way the universe works. How odd that I’m doing this job and this is the situation.”

Even if the show’s creator didn’t intend to put the weapon in Joe Kerry’s hands, it is hard to imagine it being completely coincidental. The baseball bat filled with nails is probably the most iconic weapon in Stranger Things aside from Eleven’s mind powers and it has become intrinsic to the image of Good Guy Steve protecting his young wards from the dangers of the Upside Down. Rather than think it is really a cosmic coincidence, we're more inclined to think someone in the Fargo prop department is waiting for season five of Stranger Things just as impatiently as we all are, but we'll probably never know for sure.

As we all collectively wait for Stranger Things season 5, here's the keys to getting ready:

• How to watch Stranger Things in chronological or release order
• Getting to know the Stranger Things season 5 cast
• There needs to be more death in Stranger Things, says co-star Gaten Matarazzo
• The Stranger Things time jump between season 4 and 5 has been confirmed by Netflix - and it raises some serious questions
• "They land the plane," David Harbour describes the Stranger Things finale, which he calls its "best episode"