Timothy Olyphant talks Justified future after City Primeval

Last Updated on January 23, 2023

Some folks aren’t quite sure how to describe Justified: City Primeval. Is it a sequel, a spin-off or even (gasp) a reboot? According to co-star Adelaide Clemons, the show as not so much a spin-off but “it’s an extension of the universe.” As the series mounts a limited run, it promises to showcase Timothy Olyphant’s character, U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, returning to the screen and trying to walk the fine line between a career as a marshal and a family with a 14-year-old daughter, Willa, who is played by Olyphant’s real-life daughter, Vivian. Deadline reports on the show’s TCA session, where Olyphant speaks on the possibility of continuing the story past City Primeval.

“My biggest concern was that I’d only make a pile of money,” Olyphant joked. He then followed up with a more sincere answer, “I didn’t have any concerns. I love these guys. I thought as long as we were still in the Elmore Leonard world and the Graham Yost world that the two of them created, I just thought I’d be there for it. I would show up.”

Justified: City Primeval is based on the Elmore Leonard novel and executive produced by Graham Yost. Givens finds himself in “a chance encounter on a Florida highway sends him to Detroit, where he crosses paths with Clement Mansell (Boyd Holbrook), aka The Oklahoma Wildman, a violent sociopath who’s already slipped through the fingers of Detroit’s finest once and wants to do so again.”

When asked about even more of an extension of the show, Yost exclaimed about executive producer Michael Dinner, “Michael has been pitching since year one that it would take place in Italy or Hawaii!” Olyphant chimed in, “He was in a position to make this one in Italy!” Then, executive producer, Sarah Timberman added, “It’s an extension of the show in a storytelling mode, even if it’s Detroit. I feel like a hallmark of the original show is that you’d spin out into Margot Martindale and Kaitlyn Dever’s world and live there and leave our regulars. I think this show repeats what Justified did so well, which is create these really detailed universes, people who aren’t good guys or bad guys, but grey guys.”

Justified: City Primeval is slated to premiere on FX in Summer 2023.