We are just over one month out from the return of Raylan Givens in Justified: City Primeval. That means Timothy Olyphant is more visible right now than he is usually, and after the ATX TV Festival in Austin earlier this month, he was in New York City over the weekend with one of his daughters.
I am pretty sure this is Vivian, who co-stars in City Primeval with him, but, and this is a credit to Timothy Olyphant, I don’t know what his kids look like enough to know for sure which daughter this is. He’s got a tennis daughter, Grace, and a nepo daughter, Vivian. It would make the most sense for this to be Vivian, because they’ll be doing City Primeval press together, but again, I’m not sure. And I like that! I like not knowing every single detail of a celebrity’s life. Maintain the mystique!
Speaking of mystique, have we talked at all about Olyphant’s turn as manager Rod Reyes in Daisy Jones & The Six? Overall, I did not enjoy the show. Riley Keough was fantastic, but she and Sam Claflin had negative chemistry, so I did not buy Daisy and Billy blowing up their band because of their undeniable sexual tension, and the series did Karen Sirko dirty (Suki Waterhouse isn’t the most fascinating actor, but she had nothing to work with, I don’t fault her). For me, the highlights were Camila Morrone as Camila Alvarez, and, of course, Timothy Olyphant as Rod.
He plays Rod—under a CRIMINALLY AWFUL wig, I might add—with an edge of sleaze the series desperately needs (it’s WAY too clean for 1970s Los Angeles) and also some humor, as Rod is basically the only adult in the room. Olyphant projects a weary edge, the guy who has done it all and seen it all and knows how this chapter will end long before Daisy and Billy clue in, but he’s determined to ride the wave as far as he can. It’s not that he doesn’t believe in the band, he just knows it’s not sustainable.
Honestly, Daisy Jones reminds me that pre-Deadwood, Olyphant’s best role was as a scuzzy drug dealer in Doug Liman’s Go, and he is VERY good in reprobate mode (see also: A Perfect Getaway, Damages, The Girl Next Door). I am very much looking forward to more of laconic modern gunslinger Raylan Givens this summer, but after this, how about someone casts Olyphant as a scumbag again? Don’t bog him down in Star Wars—Cobb Vanth does not need his own Star War—let him play assholes and losers and generally bad men, he’s SO good at it. Please bring back Bad Guy Timothy Olyphant.
