Timothy Olyphant To Return As Raylan Givens In ‘Justified: City Primeval’ As FX Greenlights Latest Elmore Leonard Adaptation

Justified: City Primeval has been greenlighted at FX, with Timothy Olyphant reprising his role as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens for the limited series.

Seven years on from the end of FX’s Justified, Sony Pictures Television and FX Productions are producing their latest Elmore Leonard adaptation, based on the author’s novel City Primeval: High Noon In Detroit. The development was teased early last year, at which point Deadline revealed Fargo Season 4 star Olyphant was in talks to return.

Olyphant also is exec producing alongside showrunners and writers Dave Andron and Michael Dinner and original creator Graham Yost, with Dinner directing.

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. 

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During a six-year run that ended in 2015, the highly rated Justified won two Emmys and was nominated for eight, including one for lead Olyphant, along with winning a Peabody.

“Justified was one of the most critically acclaimed shows of the past decade and an adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s work that was so colorfully brought to life by Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, Graham Yost and the entire team of producers, writers, directors and cast,” said Eric Schrier, President of FX Entertainment. “To have this group come together again with Tim as Raylan in a new and different Elmore Leonard story is thrilling. I want to thank our showrunners Dave and Michael and their fellow executive producers Tim, Graham, Sarah and Carl, the Elmore Leonard estate as well as our partners at Sony Pictures Television, for making this possible.”

“When Justified concluded, the love and affection for this exceptional series only grew and left audiences craving more Raylan Givens,” added President of Sony Pictures Television Studios, Jeff Frost and Co-President, Jason Clodfelter. “The iconic Elmore Leonard was one of the premier authors of our time, and no one has quite captured his tone and authenticity as well as this Justified team.”

Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly are also executive producers, alongside Peter Leonard, Taylor Elmore and Chris Provenzano. Walter Mosley is consulting producer and V.J. Boyd and Ingrid Escajeda are writers. Eisa Davis is producer.