The Big Picture

Timothy Olyphant talks about his decision to return to the role of Raylan Givens in Justified: City Primeval, despite initially feeling like the show had wrapped up perfectly. Olyphant discusses the unique and challenging experience of working with his daughter, Vivian Olyphant, on set. The actor expresses his interest in doing another season of Justified in the future, citing the enjoyable collaboration with the writers and the potential for reinvention.

Now living in Miami, 15 years after leaving Kentucky behind, U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is finding that being the father of 15-year-old girl (played by Olyphant’s real-life daughter, Vivian Olyphant) can be more challenging than dealing with bad guys, ensuring that a healthy work-life balance isn’t likely to ever happen. Finding himself in Detroit with violent sociopath Clement Mansell (Boyd Holbrook) in his crosshairs, Raylan is hunting a killer who is unpredictable and dangerous, and who cracks his cool exterior and rankles him just enough to make him determined to see it through to the end.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Olyphant talked about why the story in Justified: City Primeval appealed to him, the opportunity it presented to work with his daughter, the conversations he had with the creative team about whether to bring anyone back from the original series’ run, and whether he’d like to do another season.

This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Collider: I loved the original series and thought it ended perfectly. Because of that, when I heard this was happening, my first question was, why? Did you have the same reaction? Did you think you were done with this character, or were you open to bringing him back? What was it about this particular story that appealed to you?

TIMOTHY OLYPHANT: It depends on when we’re talking about. For a few years, I thought that was certainly it. But somewhere along the line that, time goes by and things change. I will say that, even when I talked to Graham [Yost] about feeling like we should wrap it up, I remember saying then, “If we want to entertain the idea of bringing the character back or the show back, every couple of years, then count me in.” I just thought, perhaps foolishly, that the nature of just trying to keep it going another season and trying to keep all those characters afloat was becoming taxing on where those characters would want to go. Rather than overstaying your welcome, it’s better to go out early. I’ll go watch James Bond every couple of years and see how he’s changed in the slightest way or adapted to a new time. That had great appeal.

Image via FX Networks

Justified has had some of my favorite villains on television because the characters are always interesting and so layered, in so many ways. Was it fun to find that new dynamic and to explore the very odd situation that he finds himself in with Clement Mansell?

OLYPHANT: It felt, on one hand, very familiar and like our show. On the other hand, it felt like an entirely different animal. On one hand, it felt like it was a no-brainer. On the other hand, it felt like it could be a huge disaster. There’s always a fun place to work from.

Does Raylan feel like he knows who this guy is, or is he underestimating him?

OLYPHANT: Raylan is one of those guys who just loves the job and it probably keeps them from dealing with other stuff, so it really doesn’t matter, to some degree. It’s what he does. It’s what he’s comfortable with. It keeps him from dealing with the things that have become difficult.

Does having his daughter there and under threat really change things for him?

OLYPHANT: Yeah. Like with everything, you’re looking for the thing that makes it personal and that certainly ups the ante.

What was it like to be on set, exploring acting with your daughter, Vivian?

OLYPHANT: It was a total dream. It was wonderful, in many, many, many ways. Some of those ways were very unexpected. I just really enjoyed working with her.

Image via FX Networks

Was there anything uniquely challenging about it?

OLYPHANT: Yeah, of course there is. You’re in the workplace and you’re a parent, and those things don’t always work well together. Sometimes, when in doubt, you’ve gotta choose to be the parent, and make sure that she’s okay, that she’s comfortable, and that she’s not overwhelmed. Those are things that come to mind, first and foremost. That atmosphere, as fun as it is, there’s a lot of pressure. Those are things I don’t consider that much, when I’m working with other people. Oftentimes, you fall prey to trying to get the scene, trying to get the shot, and trying to get what you want out of the actor. But when it’s your kid, you’re playing with a whole other deck.

Did you guys have conversations with each other about all of this before she took this on?

OLYPHANT: Well, my wife and I had those conversations first, before we even brought up the opportunity to her. We talked about, “Do we want to tell Vivian that there’s this opportunity that she might be able to do?” That was the first step. And then, when she and I both felt like it was a good idea, we brought it up to Viv and said, “There’s this opportunity, should you want to try to audition and get it.” You have a parental conversation because you’re saying, “It’s not gonna be up to me. It’s gonna be up to others. There’s a chance you don’t get it. There’s a good chance you don’t get it. I just wanna make sure you’re okay with that. I want you to entertain that possibility, before you say that you wanna do it. Once she auditioned, and it was a really good audition, then it started rolling. The guys and the network made the decision. I was not part of those conversations. I said, “I’m gonna tap out on these conversations and let you guys have them because it’s uncomfortable already.” Even when I brought up the idea that my daughter might audition for it, I said it out loud, at first, to them, before I even brought up to Vivian, to make sure it didn’t sound totally crazy, and let them digest it. Even though we weren’t face to face when I told them, I know there was a lot of, “Oh, shit,” and eye rolls out of everybody. And then, once she got the job, we’re talking about a kid who, at one stage in her life, begged to go to tennis camp, and then, the night before, refused to go. You can’t help but wonder, “Is that kid the one that’s gonna come out?” It’s such an odd position to be in. But it wasn’t like that. It was the opposite. She was so clearly in the right place, and she was a really hard worker. It was a joy to work with her.

Image via FX Networks

Because that relationship is clearly so important to this season, did you have a moment during the shoot where you stopped thinking of her as your kid and started thinking of her as just a really great actor?

OLYPHANT: Oh, from the jump. The reason we brought it up to her, my wife and I, was because we had a gut feeling that was gonna be the case. Early on, we had that conversation, and the same goes for the rest of the people involved. I remember having conversations with (co-showrunners) [Michael] Dinner and [Dave] Andron about other characters and performances, and whether or not we felt like we were in the right place. I realized we weren’t even talking about Vivian. I realized how quickly she was not only not a concern, but I asked, “How’s Vivian? What do you guys think?” And they were like, “She’s amazing.” I was like, “Okay, moving on.” That was it, and that was early on. That’s when I realized it’s all about her, and I was already sick of it.

I hadn’t seen her do any acting, so I didn’t know what to expect. So, I found it particularly fun to watch you guys together.

OLYPHANT: Yeah, you would have had to go to her elementary school to see her other performances. The relationship between those two characters, especially early on, is the heartbeat of the story. Without it, I don’t think there would be enough meat on the bones to tell the rest of the Detroit story. One without the other is not worth much.

Michael Dinner told me that his first instinct in bringing Justified back was to bring none of the characters from the original back, but then he gradually started to think about possibilities. How did you feel about that?

OLYPHANT: There were conversations about almost every and all the characters from the original show. Knowing that we were gonna do this story, there were conversations about, “Who could we feather in, in an organic way?” There were conversations early on about everyone, including the characters in the Marshal’s office. Okay, we’re in Detroit, but they’re also federal Marshals who could be in Detroit, or who could be in Florida. All hose options had appeal. But at a certain point, it felt like taking that out of the equation gave them freedom to make it their own. That was my feeling. There are a couple things happening with this. There’s the story where we’re taking Raylan and putting him in a whole new world. But then, there’s also these guys that weren’t running the previous show, but who are now running this new show. There was something about letting the creative guys in the room have a fresh start to take a swing. Their shoulders dropped a little bit when they didn’t feel like they had to bring anybody back. It was definitely a bit of a tug of war because everybody is so fond of, not only those characters, but those actors. So, anyone who was alive from the show was a conversation, at one point.

Image via FX Networks

Now that you’ve done this again, is it something where you would like to figure out another story?

OLYPHANT: I would do it again, in a heartbeat. It’s exactly like I told them, however many years ago. I said, “If you guys wanna do one every couple of years, I’m in.” What Elmore Leonard and Graham Yost created, it just feels like we’ve got a lot of track. We could take it places and reinvent it, every couple of years. Those kids of characters, like Raylan Givens, are pretty easy to love. I would do it. Also, we had such a good time. I had more fun with the writers on this show than I feel like we may have had when we were doing the other one, and maybe that’s just because we had time away and we realized, coming back, how good we had it. But the collaboration, and the hanging out on set, trying to figure out the scenes, was a ball. The actors were incredible. I had a ball. To work with Vivian again, I’d sign up for that, any day. I don’t wanna give away who’s alive or dead, but I just love the cast. Also, I think this one gives us room to go any which way, the next time. I think we have a lot more room now, to mix worlds and to bring people back, should they want to, form the original show. Because we got away form it, we could go back to it and I think it would feel fresh. That’s a long-winded answer. The show answer is, yeah, I’d do it.

Justified: City Primeval airs on Tuesday nights on FX and is available to stream at Hulu.