Maybe we CAN have nice things. This morning we got the insanely awesome news that FX has officially greenlit JUSTIFIED: CITY PRIMEVAL, a limited series with Timothy Olyphant reprising his role as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens.
Holy shit. HOLY SHIT.
JUSTIFIED was the one reason I would get excited for Tuesday nights during the six years this show was on TV. I honestly think Raylan Givens is one of the coolest American fictional characters of all time. And I’m not alone. Raylan is the lethal lawman who had the misfortunate of being born in the wrong century. He’d be right at home in the 1800s bringing Curly Bill to justice alongside Wyatt Earp. Based on Elmore Leonard’s stories, JUSTIFIED largely takes place in the Appalachian Mountain regions of eastern Kentucky, particularly Harlan County. Raylan deals with white supremacists, Miami drug cartels, villainous real estate moguls (yeah, that’s a thing) and a whole host of other bad guys.
Speaking of Miami, Deadline reports that the new season will take place there:
“The show returns to Givens’ story eight years after he’s left Kentucky and now is based in Miami, balancing life as a marshal and part-time father of a 14-year-old girl. A chance encounter on a Florida highway sends him to Detroit and he crosses paths with Clement Mansell, 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.”
The famous lawman hunting down a violent sociopath from Oklahoma? Yes please. Also, Raylan Givens as a part-time father of a teenage girl? I can dig it. Give Raylan something personal to fight for and let’s just say the body count won’t be low. (That kid’s totally getting kidnapped, I’m gonna call it right now.)
Not that Raylan is in the habit of shooting bad guys without cause. That’s what made him such a great character. He always gives bad guys the chance to do the right thing. To walk away. To put down their guns. But the moment someone pulls on him, Raylan unleashes his swift brand of justice. The question will be, has his brand changed over the last eight years?
That’s just one of the questions I have. The other one is, will Tim “I Don’t Miss” Gutterson come back?? Come on, FX, we need more of this:
So far there’s no estimate when we’ll get to see JUSTIFIED: CITY PRIMEVAL, but I’m going to go with the hopeful estimate of early 2023, which is a date that I totally invented because I’m feeling very optimistic right now.
What do you all think? You stoked for the return of Raylan Givens? Of course you are. And if you’re not, you’re wrong. Sound off in the comments below with your favorite JUSTIFIED moments.
