There's Coal Left to be Dug: Let's Talk About the 'Justified' Sequel

The rumors began percolating in March 2021, and those rumors came to fruition in January of this year, when it was announced that FX was bringing back Justified. Damn right.

Shooting began this week in Chicago, although the series is not expected to arrive until sometime in 2023. It is a sequel, and not some fancy reborquel series those Gen Z’ers like so much. It picks up in real-time about eight years after the events of the last season of Justified. They’re putting together a nice cast, too, although best I can tell, it does not involve Walton Goggins, last seen in [spoilers] or Natalie Zea’s Winona, last seen [spoilers].

It will, however, feature a number of new cast members, including Aunjanue Ellis (Lovecraft Country), Marin Ireland (Sneaky Pete), Boyd Holbrook (Narcos), Adelaide Clemens (Rectify), Norbert Leo Butz (Bloodline), Vondie Curtis-Hall (For the People), Victor Williams (The Affair) and Vivian Olyphant, the latter of whom is Tim’s real-life daughter, who will be playing his television daughter (which should provide an opening for Zea’s return in some capacity, La Brea, notwithstanding).

I love Marin Ireland, who was so good in another Graham Yost series, Sneaky Pete (Ireland is also my favorite audiobook narrator), and likewise Adelaide Clemens from the brilliant Rectify and currently FX’s Under the Banner of Heaven. Ellis, Butz, and Holbrook look so much like they belong in the Justified universe that I’m surprised they haven’t already been in the series.

Here’s your story for the upcoming season, per Variety:

Raylan now lives in Miami, a walking anachronism balancing his life as a U.S. Marshal and part-time father of a 15-year-old girl (Vivian Olyphant). His hair is grayer, his hat is dirtier, and the road in front of him is suddenly a lot shorter than the road behind.

A chance encounter on a desolate Florida highway sends him to Detroit. There he crosses paths with Clement Mansell (Boyd Holbrook), aka The Oklahoma Wildman, a violent, sociopathic desperado who’s already slipped through the fingers of Detroit’s finest once and aims to do so again. Mansell’s lawyer, formidable Motor City native Carolyn Wilder (Aunjanue Ellis), has every intention of representing her client, even as she finds herself caught in between cop and criminal, with her own game afoot as well.

Also, in case you missed it in Pajiba Love, Olyphant and Goggins had a chance encounter recently, their first in the eight years since Justified wrapped:

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A post shared by Walton Goggins (@waltongogginsbonafide)

I should also note that the Podjiba podcast devised a March Madness bracket to determine what show we would revisit in August, and while Justified had a clear path to victory, both Dan and Tori decided that a Justified rewatch wasn’t as important as a Ducktales rewatch. Please loudly express your discontent on social media here and here.