‘Justified: City Primeval’: Timothy Olyphant On Returning To Raylan Givens, Dabbling In ‘Star Wars’ & Almost Becoming Iron Man [Bingeworthy Podcast]

In today’s episode of Bingeworthy, our TV and streaming podcast host Mike DeAngelo puts back on the badge to talk about “Justified: City Primeval.” The show follows Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) as he gets pulled into a case in Detroit after a chance encounter along a Florida highway. The series also stars Boyd Holbrook, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Adelaide Clemens, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and more.

READ MORE: ‘Justified: City Primeval’ Review: Raylan Givens Returns In FX’s Fantastic Limited Series

Joining Bingeworthy to discuss the show is Raylan Givens himself, Timothy Olyphant, who is reprising the beloved U.S. Marshall for the first time since the original series completed its 78-episode run in 2015. Many fans are wondering what exactly brought Olyphant back to the character, and it seems like that may have been the plan all along.

“Well, the smart-ass answer [to why I came back] is the money is good. The sincere answer, and I try to stay away from sincerity, is that I love this job,” Olyphant shared. “I loved it when we were doing it. And I even said then, to somewhat contradict myself as I was saying I don’t want to do the show anymore is, ‘Give us a couple years and I’d love to do the show.’ I felt like if we gave ourselves a little break, that it would open up creative possibilities that we couldn’t imagine when we were doing the series. You know, as successful as the show was and as fun as it was, the concern is that you’ll feel like you’re just going through the motions because you feel shackled. Taking a break gave us an opportunity to look at it in a fresh way.”

READ MORE: 12 TV Shows To Watch In July: ‘Full Circle,’ ‘Shadows,’ ‘Justified’ & More

So, is this it, then? Are we watching Raylan Givens walk away from us all over again, supposedly never to return? During the interview, Olyphant hinted that we may see a lot more.

“I always thought, and I said it years ago, I was like, ‘I don’t know if you’ve seen those Bond flicks, but they keep doing them.” And what they get away with that, if we keep taking little breaks and doing them again, you can constantly reinvent – just subtly every time. You can put the character in the world today and you can look back and say, ‘God, the world’s changed!’ This time around let’s be mindful of those changes and see if the audience will still come along with us.”

“Star Wars” fans have also been clamoring for more Cobb Vanth, Olyphant’s other famous lawman character, who, as fans may or may not remember, is still clinging to life somewhere in a galaxy far, far away. During the chat, the fact that Cobb Vanth is still alive was brought up and Olyphant had this to say.

“That’s what I keep thinking!” As for the future, Olyphant remains tight-lipped, saying, “If I had [talks with Filoni], I wouldn’t tell you.” 

But, what would Olyphant like to see for the character moving forward? Those are details the actor is happy to discuss.

“[I’d like him to] have his own franchise?” Olyphant said laughing. “Honestly, I can tell you that I’ve been very, very lucky with those guys. I’ve only done two episodes and to have only done those two episodes and feel like you’re part of a world and they created such a memorable character. I mean, you know, I’m getting away with something here. I did two episodes and I’ve got like four toys out there. It’s ridiculous, and I know it because all of a sudden there’s people at the airport with toys. That’s new. But, it was a ball working on those things and those guys know if they call me I’d show up. I don’t care if it’s a big giant thing or just to show up for an afternoon. It’s a fun gig.”

While Olyphant always impresses in the roles he does get, he’s also had some close calls with some other roles that make fans wonder what might have been. Most notably, Olyphant was at one time a second choice to play Marvel’s Iron Man – a role that now is inextricable from Robert Downey Jr and his performance as the great Tony Stark. Iron Man or not, Olyphant remembers the time he had discussed the role with Jon Favreau and Marvel very fondly.

“I can only tell you that I remember thinking that was the first time where, because I’m a bit of a slow learner and I think I was scared to death of the things that come with success in this business, but that was the time where I remember thinking, ‘Well, I can’t get any more grounded and so this would be fun,’” Olyphant said.  “I think prior to that I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t want those kinds of problems.’ And I think part of that appeal was those conversations that I had with [Jon] Favreau – I just have a tremendous amount of respect for him and I just like the guy. He’s just a good dude. And so, if you’re going to go down that road, you’re not going to find anyone better to go down it with, so I have fond memories of that experience, you know? I try to see things simply for what they are and not what they could be and any conversations I had with Jon about that job and about that process, I remember it very fondly. It was an enjoyable process…And, well, he’s the one who hired me for [‘The Mandalorian’], so he doesn’t owe me anything.”

“Justified: City Primeval” is currently airing on FX & is streaming on Hulu. Listen to the full interview with Timothy Olyphant below, where he also discusses “Havoc,” his upcoming Gareth Evans action film with Tom Hardy, and his time on “Scream 2“:

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