In the grand tradition of Westerns, no lawman is complete without a criminal to chase, and “Justified” was no exception. Timothy Olyphant’s gunslinging deputy U.S. marshal Raylan Givens found his perfect foil in Boyd Crowder, who was performed by a captivating Walton Goggins. But this rivalry between the two former compatriots who shoveled coal together was almost a short-lived affair, because in the original pilot for the series, Crowder was dead before the end credits rolled.
Recounting the story in a 2015 NPR interview, series creator Graham Yost explained how the pilot originally ended with Boyd dead, presumably shot down by Raylan himself. “And then we tested the show and we had all just fallen in love with Walton [Goggins] and the chemistry between Walton and Tim [Olyphant], so we decided to keep him alive,” he recalled.
This changed their entire conception of the character, who, having cheated death, became a schemer in constant search for a new angle to get what he wants out of people. Yost credited a significant portion of the show’s success to Goggins: “Getting [Walton] to come back, that gave us six years.” And as a reward for his incredible portrayal, Goggins was bumped from a recurring guest star to a series regular in Season 2.
Goggins on-screen conflict with Olyphant bled into real life, but the two created TV magic together
As instrumental as the duo were to the series’ success, their contrasting personalities off-screen created friction that led to the two no longer being on speaking terms by the end of the show’s run, according to Peter Biskind’s book “Pandora’s Box: How Guts, Guile, and Greed Upended TV.”
“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,” said Goggins. For his part, Olyphant said, “I adored working with Walt from the jump, but these actors, they’re a pain in the a**.” He also illustrated their different approaches by noting that he would join the writers room to listen in on where his character was headed, whereas Goggins would arrive and insist that he knew what his character would or wouldn’t do, throwing a wrench into the complicated and interconnected stories the writers were weaving.
That on- and off-screen spark brought so much energy to “Justified,” and even if things got testy, audiences were happy to see Boyd make a surprise return in the sequel series “Justified: City Primeval.” Shortly thereafter, the two actors reconciled, not in Kentucky, but in Thailand, where Goggins was checked in at “The White Lotus” at the same time Olyphant was filming “Alien: Earth.”
What will come of their rekindled friendship, whether it’s another season of “City Primeval” or some new game of cat-and-mouse, is still up in the air, but know that if and when it happens, everyone here at TVLine will be tuned in.