“Justified: City Primeval” will not delve into the theme of police brutality and inequality, star Timothy Olyphant said during the Winter TCA press tour while discussing the return of his popular character, US Marshal Ryan Givens, to the new FX limited series.
Set 10 years after the finale of “Justified,” the new crime drama finds Givens juggling raising his teenage daughter Willa (Olyphant’s real-life daughter Vivian). Inspired by Elmore Leonard’s novel “City Primeval”, the action moves from Kentucky to the city of Detroit, where Givens joins the police department’s investigation into The Oklahoma Wildman, known as Clement Mansell (Boyd Holbrook).
In the years since the hit Western crime drama ended in 2015, conversations about racial inequality and incidents of police brutality have turned a huge focus on the way law enforcement is portrayed on screen. Elefant, who also served as executive producer, emphasized that this expansion of the “Justified” universe would play a role in that conversation, while staying true to the tone of the show.
“We’re not a show that’s just a cheerleader for law enforcement,” he said. “Some of the characters are aware of their flaws, they are aware of their shortcomings and they know it’s complicated.”
The producers touted the casting of Angenue Ellis in the role of Caroline Wilder, a white character in the book, as a conduit to organically bring those conversations into play. It was essential to the show how the issues that have been addressed in recent years would affect Given’s world.
The new show is an extension of the “Equitable” universe, meaning new viewers won’t have to be familiar with the original series to jump into the new story. Though longtime fans of the series can expect various Easter eggs to appear during the new show’s eight-episode run.
“These guys gave us so much material to launch into, which I always thought were potentially many stories,” Elephant said. Ryan Givens in the future.
‘Justified: City Primeval’ is expected to premiere in the summer of 2023.
