Timothy Olyphant Thinks We Should Ease Up on the Reboot Criticism, OK?

I’ve seen five reboots in theaters this summer. I had to double-check to make sure, because it seemed like a lot and, honestly, I probably missed a few. Reboots and sequels are as popular as ever (at least among executives with the power to give new projects the green light). Even if people lament their existence (and they do), they ain’t going anywhere anytime soon. People will still shell out their shekels to see familiar characters go through similar adventures or help new characters deal with theirs. And Timothy Olyphant thinks that’s fine and dandy like sour candy.

Olyphant is one of those people who, I think, could convince the world that not only are reboots necessary, but a vital part of a complete and balanced breakfast. The man oozes charm and sex appeal, while also feeling like somebody you could just hang with, man. He can go from a sweet charmer to a chaos demon sent to torture Conan O’Brien with barely a flip of a switch. He’s currently promoting Alien: Earth, a reboot/sequel in its own right, and took some time during a chat with The Hollywood Reporter to tell everyone to chill out with their hatred of reboots.

“Every experience I’ve had revisiting characters or working with the same people again, I’m batting a thousand in terms of it being really gratifying,” Olyphant explained, kicking off his defence of revisiting stories. Alien: Earth isn’t the first time he’s been in a sequel/reboot television show. He has appeared in reboots/sequels to Justified and Deadwood. Both were very well received.

He then went on to give a full-throated endorsement of reboots and sequels. “I highly recommend it,” he noted, presumably with that gorgeous smile of his. “And I don’t have a problem with people remaking or rebooting things. I mean, everybody goes to Broadway to see the same couple plays every few years. It’s such a dumb, shallow argument to say Hollywood has no new ideas just because they’re rebooting things.” He is not wrong, but as someone who works the concessions side of Broadway, I can say that Mamma Mia returning to the same theater it once occupied is as much a sign of the apocalypse as anything I’ve seen (though I’m in the minority there).

Olyphant went on to invoke Jesus and Hamlet in his continued defense. “Ralph Fiennes is doing Hamlet again? Hasn’t that been done? (Laughs.) I’m not comparing what we’re doing on the Disney lot with Hamlet, but why not revisit stories?” he asked. “If someone wants to redo something, God bless ‘em. Just do something new with it. If I’m not mistaken, that Luke Skywalker guy is reminiscent of a Bible story that everybody likes. I think Iron Man went into a cave and came out reborn, too. I wonder if that’s why it works so well? You know what? If we do another Raylan story, I’m putting that f***er in a cave and he’s coming out reborn.” Would watch.

I don’t think Olyphant is wrong, but he does have the benefit of working on a series of bangers. There are plenty of reboots/sequels that fail to justify their existence, like the new I Know What You Did Last Summer. But there are plenty that do, but get discounted simply for being reboots/sequels, and that sucks. That being said, if most of them had Timothy Olyphant, they likely wouldn’t have that problem.