Justified is a great show, one of the best of the 2010s, but I do have one complaint: Quentin Tarantino should have directed an episode. It’s a natural fit: he’s a fan of the series; he’s adapted other Elmore Leonard works; and he’s worked with numerous cast members, including Walton Goggins in Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight and Timothy Olyphant in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The 2019 film was also, in a way, what led to the Justified revival — and a possible directing gig for Tarantino?
“One day the phone rang and it was Tim Olyphant who said, ‘I’ve been sitting on the set with Quentin, and we were talking about this book, City Primeval. We thought it would make a great year of Justified.’ So we started kicking around the idea, and FX was into it,” co-showrunner Michael Dinner told Entertainment Weekly about City Primeval.
He continued:
“It was very complicated to put together because the rights situation was a little murky — part of the rights belonged to the estate, part belonged to MGM which was going to make this movie several times, and it took a while to get it going, but then we did. We had a great time for seven years on this show, and so the real intention was what if we did a long movie, a limited series, that’s not really trying to go back for the past with Justified, but to do a mashup between this book and this character that we loved, and not to revisit the past as much as we looked at this character as if he had three chapters in his life, and this is the second chapter.”
Dinner and co-showrunner Dave Andron don’t comment on the rumors about Tarantino directing at least part of the limited series. But if it comes true, maybe Tarantino can get Julia Butters to sign up, too. She’d make a great lil’ crime boss. Or better yet, in episode one, Raylan gets a dog, played by Brandy.
Justified: City Primeval is expected to premiere in 2023.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
