Hollywood filmmaker extraordinaire Quentin Tarantino is no stranger to the world of Justified and its lead actors, having worked with Timothy Olyphant on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and with Walton Goggins for both Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight. So it seemed like a match made in spur-pocked heaven when Tarantino was reported to be handling directorial duties for Justified: City Primeval, FX’s sequel series that premiered in mid-July. Unfortunately, the Oscar winner wasn’t able to get behind the camera for this initial season, but director and co-showrunner Michael Dinner revealed the grindhouse enthusiast did still have quite a bit of significant input behind the scenes.
Speaking with THR about bringing Raylan Givens back for source material that didn’t actually feature the character, Tarantino’s name came up in connection with the Elmore Leonard-ness of it all, as he’d turned the novel Rum Punch into the stellar 1997 crime drama Jackie Brown (my personal favorite of QT’s work). And it turns out Michael Dinner and show creator Graham Yost went through a mini roller coaster of expectations by way of his potential involvement. Here’s how he explained it:
