Timothy Olyphant’s roles inDeadwoodandJustifiedmade him the beloved TV star, acclaimed leading man, and legend of the western genre that he is today. Throughout his career,Olyphant has played a bunch of iconic TV characters, from one-off guest roles like Mickey inCurb Your Enthusiasmto lovable lead characters like Joel Hammond inSanta Clarita Diet.
Since he came onto Hollywood’s radar, Olyphant has been tapped to join a handful of big sci-fi franchises. He plays Cobb Vanth, a marshal on Tatooine, in theStar Warsuniverse; he voiced a T-800 — taking over for Arnold Schwarzenegger — in the animated seriesTerminator Zero; and, most recently, he wascast as Prodigy’s synthetic scientist Kirsh inAlien: Earth.
AndOlyphant’s careerisn’t just confined to television. After his TV roles made him a household name, he transitioned to film roles. He starred as Agent 47 in a movie adaptation of theHitmangames, he played the villainous cyberterrorist Thomas Gabriel opposite Bruce Willis inLive Free or Die Hard, and he played CIA Agent Geneva in Oliver Stone’sSnowdenbiopic.
Olyphant gave a memorable turn as real-life TV western star James Stacy in Quentin Tarantino’sOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, a role he recently hinted he’d bereprising in Netflix’s Cliff Booth spinoff. Stacy is the star of the classic ‘60s western seriesLancer— and Olyphant was the perfect casting choice, because he’s a modern-day TV cowboy.
Deadwood & Justified Made Timothy Olyphant A Western Legend
Olyphant has enjoyed a prolific career in film and television over the last couple of decades, but he might not have broken this big if it hadn’t been for his early TV western roles. The actor got his breakthrough when he playedSheriff Seth Bullockin HBO’s short-lived but universally praised revisionist western seriesDeadwood.
Created by David Milch,Deadwoodchronicles the titular South Dakota city’s transition from a small encampment into a full-blown town in the 1870s. Milch used real diaries and newspapers from that time to ensure that the show’s storytelling and production design were as close to reality as possible, andDeadwoodhas been consistently lauded for its historical accuracy and attention to detail.
Deadwoodwasn’t the ratings success that it deserved to be, so it was canceled after three seasons. But it was widely acclaimed by critics and caught the attention of the industry, so it led to more opportunities for Olyphant. He would eventually land the long-running blockbuster show his talent and charisma warranted with FX’s neo-western action seriesJustified.
Based on Elmore Leonard’s short story “Fire in the Hole,”Justifiedis a contemporary western bringing the tropes and conventions of the genre into a modern setting. Olyphant playsDeputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, a suave, smooth-talking gunslinger who chases fugitives across Harlan County.Justifiedstarted off as a case-of-the-week procedural, but it eventually morphed into a more serialized drama.
Both Western TV Shows Altered The Course Of The Actor’s Career
DeadwoodandJustifiedboth changed the trajectory of Olyphant’s career in their own ways. Until he starred inDeadwood, Olyphant was known for playing eccentric character roles in movies likeScream 2andThe Girl Next Door. His turn inDeadwooddemonstrated his impressive dramatic range and led to a wider variety of offers from other studios and directors.
Justifiedhad an even bigger impact on Olyphant’s career. It was such a huge hit, in terms of both viewership and critical reviews, that it made Olyphant a leading man recognized by audiences around the world. He wouldn’t have been noticed by filmmakers like Stone and Tarantino if he hadn’t given such a memorable and iconic performance as Raylan.
How Timothy Olyphant’s Justified & Deadwood Roles Compare
Broadly, there are a lot of similarities between Olyphant’s characters inDeadwoodandJustified. They’re both lawmen dishing out justice on the American frontier, and they both share Olyphant’s unmistakable charms. But there are plenty of differences between the two characters, too. For starters,Bullock was a real person, whereas Raylan is fictional.
They’re both lawmen dishing out justice on the American frontier, and they both share Olyphant’s unmistakable charms.
Raylan is a full-time lawman, but Bullock has a lot of side hustles; inDeadwood, he runs a hardware store, and in real life, he later owned a hotel. Bullock is a much darker, more grizzled character than Raylan, since he’s an HBO antihero. He’s also tougher than Raylan, because, like Indiana Jones and Nathan Drake, Raylan gets beaten up a lot.
Why Fans Of The Actor Need To Watch Both Western Classics
Every fan of Olyphant’s work owes it to themselves to watch his early-career work inDeadwoodandJustified. These two shows define Olyphant’s career and on-screen persona. Being an Olyphant fan and not watchingJustifiedis like being a Bryan Cranston fan and not watchingBreaking Bador being a Natasha Lyonne fan and not watchingPoker Face.
Deadwoodis streaming on HBO Max andJustifiedis streaming on Hulu and Prime Video.
Justifiedis one ofthe best action shows ever made, andDeadwoodis simply one of the best TV shows ever made.Deadwoodis a fascinating look at a darker Olyphant performance, and his turn inJustifiedis classic Olyphant: cool, charismatic, heroic, and hilarious. AllTimothy Olyphantfans should have these shows on their watchlist.
