Timothy Olyphant is getting back on the saddle to reprise his role as Raylan Givens in Justified spin-off Justified: City Primeval, according to Vulture. The original series ran from 2010-2015 and follows a US Marshal in Kentucky’s Appalachian mountains. The spin-off series being greenlit could be down to the massive success of western series Yellowstone, which famously has many prequels and spin-offs now too.
The original series mainly drew inspiration from Elmore Leonard’s novella Fire in the Hole. The spin-off will focus on Leonard’s novel City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit. City Primeval takes place after Givens’s work in Kentucky is finished, with the US Marshal living in Miami before he ends up in Detroit and involved with the case of someone known as the Oklahoma Wildman.
Justified is claimed by many to be the best TV series of the 2010s. It co-starred Walton Goggins, Erica Tazel, Jacob Pitts, and Joelle Carter. Boyd Holbrook, Aunjanue Ellis, Marin Ireland, and Vivian Olyphant (the star’s daughter) are all joining the cast of City Primeval as new characters. Justified stars like Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder or Jere Burns as Wynn Duffy have not confirmed if they’re returning for the revival.
The plot will follow Givens after time spent in Miami raising his 15-year-old daughter (played by Olyphant’s real-life daughter) and continuing his work as a US Marshal. Givens then ends up in Detroit to take down sociopathic criminal Clement Mansell (Boyd Holbrook) and his attorney.
Fans have wanted a continuation of Justified ever since it ended in 2015, but the spin-off finally happening is actually down to a surprising person – Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino reportedly planted the TV-adaptation idea (of Leonard’s novel) into Tim Olyphant’s head.
“One day the phone rang, and it was Tim Olyphant, who said, ‘I’ve been sitting on the set with Quentin, and we were talking about this book, City Primeval,’” showrunner Michael Dinner told EW in December 2022. “It was very complicated to put together, because the rights situation was a little murky and it took a while to get it going.”
The Justified spin-off is expected to hit our screens in summer 2023. While we wait for more news, check out our guide to the best drama series.