Were Justified Stars Not Speaking by End of Series? Timothy Olyphant, Walton Goggins Each Share POVs

Raylan Givens and Boyd Crowder “dug coal together,” but by the end of Justified‘s six-season run, Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins weren’t exchanging many words together — to hear at least one of the actors tell it.

In Peter Biskind’s November 2023 book, Pandora’s Box How Guts, Guile, and Greed Upended TV, Goggins is quoted as saying that he and Olyphant “weren’t talking” by the end of Justified’s run.

“We had a tough time towards the end of Justified,” Boyd’s portrayer elaborated in a recent interview with Trent Crimm The Independent. “We were so deep into these people we were playing, and they were so polar opposite at this point in the story… I think we were both obsessed with our own points of view, just carrying the weight of this conflict.”

But now, some nine years later, the former co-stars clearly have patched things up — as evidenced in part by their recent “reunion” in Thailand, where Goggins is filming The White Lotus Season 3 and Olyphant is shooting FX’s yet-to-be-titled Alien franchise series. “We just needed to take a break in order to come back together,” Goggins told The Independent.

Olyphant was asked in a new Vanity Fair Q&A about Goggins’ POV. Hailing his onetime on-screen foe as “a real actor,” Raylan’s portrayer proceeded to offer “my version” of things.

“I adored working with Walt from the jump, but these actors, they’re a pain in the ass. They get really into their work!” shared Olyphant, with a grin. “There was this thing where, as the show went on, and especially as the thing came to an end, I would come from the writers’ room. They’d add things that were like, ‘Here’s what we need Walt to do in order to get to this finale we want.’ Then Walt would say his character would never do that, and then I’d be like, ‘Goddamn it.’ We’d get really frustrated with each other.”

Olyphant also posited that “people have a hard time saying goodbye,” such as when a TV series’ run comes to an end. And as a result, “Some people make it easier to walk away.”

Goggins — now the star of the already-renewed Prime Video hit Fallout — of course put in a top-secret cameo at the very end of FX’s Justified: City Primeval miniseries that aired last summer, and has hinted again and again that he’d be game to saddle up for a full-on Boyd/Raylan reunion.

Olyphant told Vanity Fair, “I’ve always adored [Walton] and I love working with him, and he’s something special. I’d work with him again in a heartbeat.

“And I’m assuming if we do it again,” he added with a laugh, “he’ll be more predisposed to listen to me.”