Timothy Olyphant Details the Harrowing Real-Life Shootout on the Set of 'Justified'

By Dustin Rowles | TV | January 27, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | January 27, 2023 |

Earlier this week, Andrew wrote about Timothy Olyphant hijacking the introduction of the latest episode of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. However, video had not yet been made available of the most riveting part of the podcast, where Olyphant details the real-life shootout in Chicago on the set of the Justified revival that led to a production shutdown for a couple of days.

I remember it happening last summer, but the news reports at the time didn’t do it justice. The reporting was basically, “Production has shut down on the set of Justified until Monday because of a shootout between non-production members.” That hardly tells the story: There were people in two cars chasing each other and using machine guns to shoot at each other. The crew — including Timothy Olyphant in Raylan Givens garb — had to dive behind cars to narrowly avoid being shot.

He jokes about it, but Olyphant clearly pushed a PA to safety (and may have saved her life) while another PA (a friend of the family) was nearly killed. Someone else had a bullet hole in their shirt. They halted production the next day basically because Olyphant didn’t feel like it was appropriate to be on set because everyone was still in shock.

I love Olyphant and O’Brien’s comedy chemistry, but honestly, this is one time when I wish Conan had not tried to add levity to the story with comedy bits.