The action-packed neo-western series that made Timothy Olyphant a beloved TV icon — FX’s Justified — deserves its masterpiece status. Olyphant first broke out with a leading role in a different TV western; he played Sheriff Seth Bullock opposite Ian McShane in HBO’s revisionist western epic Deadwood. But Justified is the show that really put him on the map.
After starring in Justified, Olyphant became a renowned star. He worked with big-name directors like Quentin Tarantino and Oliver Stone, and he joined massive blockbuster sci-fi franchises like Star Wars, Alien, and Terminator. But Justified shouldn’t just be remembered as Olyphant’s springboard to the A-list; it deserves to be remembered as a bona fide TV classic.
Justified Redefined The TV Western
Westerns have been a staple of television for about as long as scripted TV shows have been getting made. But when Justified came along, it reinvented the genre. Based on the Elmore Leonard story “Fire in the Hole,” the series stars Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens as he searches the modern-day frontier for elusive fugitives.
In its first season, Justified was a pretty typical episodic TV western with a case-of-the-week format similar to classic western shows like The Lone Ranger. But as the series progressed, it became more of a serialized drama. Every episode had plenty of action, but the storylines developed over multiple episodes — sometimes multiple seasons.
Why Justified Is The Best Neo-Western In Television History
Another way that Justified redefined the TV western was by bringing it into the present day. Raylan is a classic western hero — a gunslinging lawman on the hunt for ne’er-do-wells — but the series takes place today, not in the Old West. There have been plenty of other neo-western shows since, but Justified is still the best of the bunch.
Yellowstone had some compelling storylines and lovable characters, but it was basically just a soap opera in a western setting. Outer Range was a curious blend of contemporary western and science fiction, but it got lost down the rabbit hole of superfluous subplots. Longmire was a solid imitation of Justified, but didn’t do anything original to set itself apart.
Justified Even Got A Sequel Miniseries
Justified remained so popular in the years after it went off the air that it was eventually brought back with a sequel miniseries, 2023’s Justified: City Primeval, with Olyphant reprising his role as Raylan. This sequel show sent Raylan to Detroit and adapted a different Leonard story. There’s been talk of a City Primeval season 2, so Justified could return yet again.
Justified
8/10
- Release Date
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2010 – 2015
- Directors
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Adam Arkin, Jon Avnet, Peter Werner, Bill Johnson, John Dahl, Michael W. Watkins, Dean Parisot, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Tony Goldwyn, Don Kurt, Michael Katleman, Billy Gierhart, Frederick King Keller, John David Coles, Lesli Linka Glatter
- Writers
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Fred Golan, Taylor Elmore, Ingrid Escajeda, VJ Boyd