Neither Raylan Givens nor Boyd Crowder is a stranger to a good old-fashioned showdown. And now their alter egos, actors Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins, could find themselves facing off once more, this time for Best Drama Actor at the Emmys.
Olyphant is eligible for reprising his role as the quick-drawing Givens in “Justified: City Primeval,” last summer’s sequel to FX’s critically acclaimed neo-Western “Justified,” which ran from 2010 until 2015. The eight-episode drama picked up 15 years after the emotionally satisfying events of the finale and adapted yet another Elmore Leonard property, the novel “City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit,” retrofitting Raylan into the story of the Oklahoma Wildman (Boyd Holbrook). The series offered viewers a new perspective on TV’s coolest cowboy, and eventually ended with Raylan opting to retire from the U.S. Marshals Service to spend more time with his teenage daughter, Willa (Vivian Olyphant), a decision that spoke volumes after he was unwilling to do the same for Willa’s mother, his ex-wife Winona (Natalie Zea), years earlier.
After denying any involvement in the sequel series, Goggins made a surprise appearance as Boyd, the cunning black hat to Raylan’s white, in the “City Primeval” finale. But those eight minutes of screen time, in which Boyd escapes from prison — and thus sets up the possibility of another “Justified” adventure in the future — aren’t enough to put Goggins in competition with his former co-star for best actor. No, that would be his scene-stealing turn as the Ghoul in the new Prime Video series “Fallout,” an adaptation of the popular video game shepherded to the small screen by “Westworld’s” Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy.
Set in a post-apocalyptic hellscape, “Fallout” tells the story of Lucy (Ella Purnell), a vault dweller who ventures to the irradiated surface of the Earth to find her missing father (Kyle MacLachlan). The show features two timelines — before the bombs fell on Los Angeles and 219 years after — with Goggins portraying the centuries-old bounty hunter known as the Ghoul as well as the man he used to be, Marine Corps veteran-turned-Hollywood actor Cooper Howard, who had starred in many a Western in his day (how very fitting). The dual storylines allow Goggins, who has made a career out of playing complicated, charismatic villains (see also: Shane Vendrell on FX’s cop drama “The Shield”), to show off his range. As the Ghoul, he’s a disfigured creature without a shred of his former humanity, a result of being forced to survive for hundreds of years in a dog-eat-dog wasteland. But as Cooper, he’s a man with a conscience torn between duty and family.
SEE Experts slugfest: ‘Fallout’ and ‘The Sympathizer’ are here to shake up the Emmy race
Olyphant earned just one Emmy nomination during “Justified’s” original run, a Best Drama Actor bid in 2011 for his performance in the show’s universally beloved second season. That he was never able to sneak back into the race is not indicative of talent or skill, but the embarrassment of riches of the era. He has since been nominated as an executive producer of “Deadwood: The Movie” (2019), in which he reprised his role as Seth Bullock, and as a guest actor in Disney+’s sci-fi western “The Mandalorian,” in which he also portrays a marshal. Goggins, meanwhile, has just one Emmy nomination to his name, for Best Drama Supporting Actor, also for the second season of “Justified.” This is despite the fact he’s been turning in memorable performances everywhere he goes since the series went off the air, including on HBO comedies “Vice Principals” and “The Righteous Gemstones.”
As it stands, both men will need a strong push heading into the final month of the season if they hope to duel one another at the Emmys. Goggins is currently in 10th place with 37/1 odds for Best Drama Actor, but as was often the case on “Justified,” Olyphant is hot on his heels, sitting in 11th place with 42/1 odds. The overall competition isn’t as strong as it has been in recent years, especially now that “Succession” has concluded its run, but the field is full of familiar faces, all of whom have cases for one of the likely six available slots.
“Slow Horses” star Gary Oldman leads the field with 19/5 odds. Currently, 10 Experts and five Editors predict him to triumph. Having already earned a Golden Globe nom for his performance in the third season of the Apple TV+ spy dramedy, he’s probably the closest thing the category has to a shoo-in. From there you’ve got Dominic West of perennial Emmy favorite “The Crown” in second place (9/2 odds); Colin Farrell of the unique Apple TV+ noir “Sugar” in third place (7/1); former Emmy winner Donald Glover of Prime Video’s “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” in fourth place (9/1); Tom Hiddleston of the fan-favorite Marvel series “Loki” in fifth place (10/1); and Morgan Spector of HBO’s “The Gilded Age,” which many believe is primed for a big breakout, in sixth place (15/1). Rounding out the rest of the top 10 are former Emmy winner Ben Mendelsohn (“The New Look,” seventh place, 18/1)), Nathan Fielder (“The Curse,” eighth place, 18/1) and five-time nominee Idris Elba (“Hijack,” ninth place, 25/1).
Between Goggins and Olyphant, the former is better positioned to make the leap into the top half of the field given “Fallout’s” mid-April debut, though Amazon’s decision to release the entire first season at once could potentially hurt his chances if voters somehow forget about the show by June. But he still has a leg up on Olyphant since “City Primeval” aired last summer, meaning it’s even further from voters’ minds. But if there is one thing we have learned from “Justified,” it’s to never count out either man, and that the world is a better place when Goggins and Olyphant are in it together.
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