FX pondering another Leonard TV project
If you loved “Justified,” the FX series based on metro Detroit novelist Elmore Leonard’s novella about lawman Raylan Givens, there could be double good news coming your way.
The team that created the moody crime drama that ran from 2010 to 2015 and starred Timothy Olyphant is getting back together to develop another show for FX, this one inspired by the late Leonard’s “City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit.”
That classic novel featured a Detroit homicide detective named Raymond Cruz and his pursuit of the killer of a corrupt Motor City judge. But as first reported by Variety, the series possibly could bring back Olyphant’s character somehow, too.
The project is still very early in the process, so Olyphant’s involvement – if it does happen – isn’t clear at this point. The new series will feature Graham Yost, who created “Justified,” as an executive producer, plus many other writers and producers from the previous
show. Peter Leonard, the novelist’s son, also will be an executive producer.
“Justified” revolved around Raylan Givens, a character from Leonard’s short story “Fire in the Hole.” The series, set amidst the drug dealers of impoverished Kentucky towns, was praised by critics and earned Emmys for Olyphant for best actor and Margo Martindale and Jeremy Davies as guest actors.
Leonard, who died at age 87 in 2013, had been disappointed by most Hollywood adaptations of his work, but “Justified” was among his favorites.
Yost was dedicated to staying true to Leonard’s writing voice and spirit, so much so that he made WWED (What Would Elmore Do?) the slogan for his writers.
“There’s an old saw that you should never meet your heroes, and that applies, but not in Elmore’s case,” said Yost in a Free Press interview in 2014. “He was just fun to hang out with and had a great attitude about life and work and writing.”
Olyphant hit it off immediately with Detroit’s bard when he first met Leonard on a set visit. “He was just as cool as they come,” the actor told the Free Press the same year.
Both Yost and Olyphant came to metro Detroit to attend Leonard’s funeral and pay their respects to the man who represented the true north of “Justified.”
Although Leonard gave creative leeway to the makers of “Justified,” the series inspired him to write the 2012 book “Raylan.” Olyphant helped prod Leonard into developing that novel, at least in part.
“I don’t know if he needed much of a nudge,” said Olyphant, who encouraged him to write more stories about the Raylan character. “He said, ‘You know, I might do that.’”