Posted in: FX, TV | Tagged: justified, raylan givens

Justified: Looking Back at Raylan Givens' Most Memorable "Big Bads"

For Justified fans, a look back at some of Raylan's (Timothy Olyphant) biggest "big bads," including Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) and more.

Though it's been some time, Justified fans remember it like it was yesterday. Pulling a con involving a fake terminal illness with his prison guard accomplice, Walton Goggins' Boyd Crowder turned a prison transfer into a successful bid for freedom. And it didn't take long for Timothy Olyphant's Raylan Givens to learn what went down, with the news coming over his phone – just as the season finale credits rolled on Dave Andron & Michael Dinner's Justified: City Primeval. Killer cliffhanger, right? What made it even worse was there was no way of knowing if or when a Raylan/Boyd on-screen reunion – what with Goggins wrapped up in HBO's The White Lotus Season 3 and Prime Video's Fallout Season 2 and Olyphant wrapped up in FX on Hulu and Noah Hawley's Alien: Earth. But as a friendly reminder of exactly what Boyd brought to Raylan's life – as well as what Wynn Duffy (Jere Burns), Robert Quarles (Neal McDonough), Dickie Bennett (Jeremy Davies), Arlo Givens (Raymond J. Barry), Avery Markham (Sam Elliot), and others did to "enrich" our U.S. Marshal's life – we have a look back at the show's most memorable villains.

Here's a look at some of the not-so-nice folks who have made their way through the seasons of Justified, followed by a look back at what Andron and Dinner had to share about making the decision to bring back Goggins' Boyd during Justified: City Primeval:

Justified: City Primeval Creators on Boyd Crowder Return & More

"The Joker is out there," Dinner shared regarding Boyd's escape during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "It creates danger in the world because somewhere in California, he has a kid he doesn't know about" – with Ava and the child sure to be a focal point of Boyd's "return." In the following highlights, the series creators discussed bringing Boyd back at the right time – and for the right reason – and how they wanted to be respectful to the original's classic "final" exchange between Raylan and Boyd.

Dinner: Boyd's Return Discussed From Start of "Justified: City Primeval": "When we first started talking, a lot of the talk was about, 'Let's not feel compelled to bring anybody back,' because we didn't want to do an adaptation that leaned too much on the past. But from the very beginning, Dave said, 'What about Walton?' My first instinct was: We can't do the cheesy version, which is episode five, when Raylan's having a tough time with Clement, he goes into the prison and says to Hannibal Lecter, 'I don't understand this guy.' But it was the elephant in the room. Fans of the show who want to consider this Justified are going to be asking, 'Where's Boyd Crowder?' It was a dangerous idea of bringing him in at the end."

Andron Believed Author Elmore Leonard Would Approve: "It feels like an Elmore Leonard ending. I think people will have a big smile on their faces. You get to go on this journey with Raylan, then you get to have this moment in time with Boyd. It did feel to me that if you were going to go into the world and you don't want to be cheesy about bringing people back, this is how you do it. Where is Boyd? What's he like now? Did he change at all, or is he the same? It felt okay to go and pick him up a little bit."

Andron on Respecting "We Dug Coal Together" Raylan/Boyd Moment: "We were very cognizant of ending it well and taking the plane back up. For me, it was thinking about Elmore and thinking about the dance, the connection between these guys, [and] the satisfying feeling of Raylan and Boyd. 'We dug coal together' felt very satisfying. It encapsulated everything we had done. I hope that even though this leaves a lot on the table, it still feels satisfying. Even if Raylan doesn't chase him, even if he feels like it's someone else's problem — and part of that is maybe the connection they have, and he doesn't want to have to gun him down — that maybe there's still a connection there and Boyd gets to have his life, too. He doesn't have to die in his cell as an old man. He gets to go back out there and try to right some wrongs."

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