Last night, TV fans were treated to an all-new episode of Justified for the first time in over eight years as silver-tongued gun-slinger Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) returned to the small-screen in FX’s absorbing new miniseries Justified: City Primeval.
Adapted from Elmore Leonard’s City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit, the Western-style thriller picks up fifteen years after Raylan left the hollers of Kentucky. The new adventure finds the U.S. Marshall in Detroit as he squares off against a formidable sociopath known as the The Oklahoma Wildman (portrayed by Boyd Holbrook). Early reviews have been sensational, with the show currently boasting a 92% Tomatometer score and 100% Audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Much of the show’s success stems from Justified: City Primeval’s stellar supporting cast, which just so happens to include Timothy Olyphant’s daughter, Vivian Olyphant, who portrays Raylan’s daughter Willa Givens. How exactly did this on-screen pairing come to fruition? Here’s everything you need to know.
Willa is portrayed by Timothy Olyphant’s real-life daughter Vivian Olyphant.
Justified: City Primeval is Olyphant’s on-screen debut. Per FX, Vivian previously studied songwriting at Berklee College of Music in Boston. She currently resides in New York where she studied acting at William Esper Studio.
You can follow the rising star on Instagram.
Timothy explained how he ended up sharing the screen with his daughter during a recent interview with Rolling Stone.
“She was at Berklee College of Music, studying in her freshman year, when this came up,” the actor explained. “And we knew we were gonna be shooting in the summer, she had started talking about acting again, in addition to the singing and songwriting, and my wife said, ‘Isn’t there a part in your show for a teenage daughter?’ [Vivian] said, ‘Yes, I want to audition.'”
Continued Olyphant: “I let [Justified: City Primeval showrunners] Michael and Dave know over the phone. They were very polite to me, but I could hear over the phone that they were cringing, already trying to think about how they were going to break it to me that the kid has no talent. It was gonna be uncomfortable. But she worked really hard on the audition. I read opposite her for her audition. And she was really good. I simply told the producers that I wouldn’t have brought up the idea to her if I didn’t think she could handle the opportunity. What kind of father would I be otherwise?”
Olyphant noted that he was “very impressed” with Vivian’s audition, but he left the decision up to the showrunners.
“I said, I’m not going to get involved. It just won’t be comfortable for anybody. And then they sent me an email a few weeks later saying she was their first choice.”
The first two episodes of Justified: City Primeval are now streaming on Hulu. New episodes air weekly on FX.