Justified: City Primeval creators set viewer expectations, call show “very new”

Last Updated on December 30, 2022

Justified: City Primeval, the limited series follow-up to FX’s hit western Justified, comes out next year, and the creators are working to make sure that audiences are aware of the many changes.

Justified: City Primeval co-creators Dave Andron and Michael Dinner sat down with Entertainment Weekly to tease the upcoming limited series–which will debut in the summer next year–calling it a mix between the book and the main character, Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant).

Considering how much will change, the pair set expectations for the audience. “It’s very, very new. Not quite the old Justified…Only people who read the book might have an idea, but I think people who haven’t, who just expect the old thing, are going to be very surprised.” The book Andron refers to is Elmore Leonard’s “City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit.” The original Justified series was also based on Leonard’s characters.

As Justified: City Primeval is set several years later, Raylan Givens will be “at a state in his life where he’s this walking anachronism, and can this guy survive in a world that’s not the same world that he’s used to?…This story is really going to be about Raylan and his demons and his past and trying to move forward at this point in his life.” Supporting Olyphant will be Aunjanue Ellis, Boyd Holbrook, Adelaide Clemens, and more. At the same time, Andron did confirm that some familiar faces will show up.

Justified: City Primeval will undoubtedly be welcomed by fans, even if the creators never expected it to happen. Although Dinner says, “We never expected to go back into the waters”, the right opportunity arose to resurrect Raylan Givens and put a fresh spin on the stories. Dinner said the inception came from Timothy Olyphant, who was discussing the source book with Quentin Tarantino on the set of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Despite rumors, Tarantino will not be directing any episodes of Justified: City Primeval.

Justified ran for six seasons and 78 episodes, earning a loyal following up until its 2015 conclusion. 

Are you excited for Justified: City Primeval? What are you hoping to see in the series? Let us know below!