To the list of movies you might not expect a television series to spring from, add “Get Shorty.”

Not only is the 1995 John Travolta-Gene Hackman film a source of the seriocomic Epix show that premieres Sunday, so is the Elmore Leonard novel about a professional killer (now played by Chris O’Dowd, retaining his Irish accent) who leaves Nevada for Hollywood to try to make a fresh start as a novice movie producer. A has-been filmmaker (Ray Romano), who’s doing whatever he can to stay in the business, reluctantly agrees to become the reforming hit man’s partner.

The new version of “Get Shorty” expands on the original themes in the same way as another big-screen property MGM Television developed for weekly purposes, “Fargo.” The main characters have been renamed, so as not to have to hew overly closely to Leonard’s creations. (“Shameless” and “In Treatment” alum Davey Holmes did the adaptation.)

“I saw the pilot, and I did not care for it,” deadpans O’Dowd, whose work has included “Bridesmaids” and HBO’s “Girls” (in a recurring part). “No, I thought it was really terrific. It’s got a very specific kind of style, with these long tracking sequences that are four or five minutes at a time, and the music sounds like (that in the movie) ‘Birdman.’ It’s very exciting to watch.”

For Romano, whose post-“Everybody Loves Raymond” work has involved “Men of a Certain Age” and “Parenthood,” straddling the line between comedy and drama is familiar. “‘Washed-up,’ I can identify with,” he muses of his “Get Shorty” role. “‘Producer’ is a stretch. I’ve got to be honest, I don’t think I ever saw the movie back then. I’ve seen it now because of the show, and I loved it … but the show is closer in tone to the book. I describe it as ‘Fargo’-esque, quirky and funny but intense.”

O’Dowd also hadn’t seen the “Get Shorty” movie when he was cast for the series, though he allows he “had a general idea of what it was about. I wasn’t that interested in playing a Mafia guy, because it sounded like there was an awful lot of that around already … but Davey asked to meet, so I did, and he pitched me this idea of an ex-Irish paramilitary guy who became the heavy for a crime syndicate outside Vegas. It felt like a fresh take on that world, then I read the script and loved it.”

Romano believes “Get Shorty” fits his current career wheelhouse. “I don’t say that I’ll never do a straight comedy again,” he reflects, “but I won’t do a sitcom again. I’ve been offered some, and I don’t even want to revisit that, because I don’t have to follow what I’ve done. I respect and love that genre, but I want to leave my sitcom legacy alone. And I’m really drawn to doing something that also has drama in it.”

Don’t forget Fargo

There’s not a single “you betcha” uttered in Sunday’s premiere of “Get Shorty,” but the distance between FX’s “Fargo” and the Nevada-based dramedy isn’t as far as you might think.

Epix’s latest entry in scripted programming also is inspired by a big-screen hit, and features colorful gangsters and lovable losers taking one last stab at the American dream.

The similarities weren’t lost on Holmes when he pitched MGM executives this reboot.

“Basically what I wanted to say was, ‘You know how ‘Fargo’ just kind of started over and you could recognize aspects of the characters? We should do that,’” said Holmes. “And I went to set my water down on a coaster on the coffee table, and it said ‘Fargo’ on it, and I realized, ‘Oh, they did ‘Fargo.’ That’s good.’”

Both series also share a knack for keen, inventive casting. O’Dowd may only look like Travolta after a three-day doughnut binge in the rain, but he oozes just as much charisma in the role of the movie-obsessed heavy (now known as Miles Daley, not Chili Palmer) who would rather be making old-fashioned romantic weepers than sticking a gun in the mouth of debtors.

“It’s like visiting a bar at a different time of the week,” said O’Dowd, who waited to watch the Travolta film after shooting for the first season wrapped. “The movie’s kind of like going to a bar on a Saturday night when everybody’s looking well. And we kind of visit the bar at 3 a.m. on a Thursday, when the floor is kind of sticky. You’re fighting with your girlfriend. And the bar bill’s about to arrive and you can’t afford to pay it.”

Moreweather, played by Romano, has the same DNA as Martin Freeman’s passive-aggressive salesman and Ewan McGregor’s jealous parole officer in “Fargo.” It’s a role that helps further Romano’s goal of establishing himself as a go-to character actor after a career built on comedy.

“After ‘Everybody Loves Raymond,’ I didn’t want to do a sitcom again. I always wanted to keep comedy in my work, but I was more attracted to maybe something dramatic,” said Romano, who has been getting rave reviews for his performance in the movie “The Big Sick,” where he holds his own opposite Oscar winner Holly Hunter. “It’s very hard to get people to forget that character they’ve seen for nine years. Am I surprised? I guess the answer is yes, because I’m surprised I can do anything. I’m very insecure about all of this, and it’s a learning process.”

— The (Minneapolis) Star Tribune contributed to this report.

TV spotlight

“Get Shorty”
9 p.m. Sunday, Epix