Justified: City Primeval | |
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Genre | |
Based on | City Primeval and "Fire in the Hole" by Elmore Leonard |
Developed by |
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Starring | |
Composer | Mark Isham |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 8 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producers |
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Production location | Chicago |
Editor | Hunter M. Via |
Camera setup | Single-camera |
Running time | 44–52 minutes |
Production companies |
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Release | |
Original network | FX |
Original release | July 18, 2023 present | –
Related | |
Justified Out of Sight |
Justified: City Primeval is an American neo-Western crime drama television miniseries developed by showrunners Dave Andron and Michael Dinner. The series continues the story from Justified taking inspiration from the Elmore Leonard novel City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit and short story "Fire in the Hole". Timothy Olyphant returns to star as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, with Paul Calderón also reprising his role as Detective Raymond Cruz from the 1998 crime comedy film Out of Sight, a film adaptation of Leonard's 1996 novel of the same name. A world premiere was held on June 1, 2023 at the 12th ATX Television Festival, and the series premiered on FX on July 18, 2023, with back-to-back episodes. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
Raylan Givens left Kentucky for Miami, where he continues working as a U.S. Marshal while helping to raise his daughter. He soon finds himself in Detroit, pursuing The Oklahoma Wildman, Clement Mansell, who has been eluding the Detroit police force.
Main article: List of Justified characters |
See also: List of Justified episodes |
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
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1 | "City Primeval" | Michael Dinner | Dave Andron & Michael Dinner | July 18, 2023 | 0.848[1] |
2 | "The Oklahoma Wildman" | Michael Dinner | Dave Andron & Michael Dinner | July 18, 2023 | 0.493[1] |
3 | "Backstabbers" | Jon Avnet | Eisa Davis & Chris Provenzano | July 25, 2023 | 0.560[2] |
4 | "Kokomo" | Gwyneth Horder-Payton | Taylor Elmore | August 1, 2023 | 0.603[3] |
5 | "You Good?" | Kevin Rodney Sullivan | Eisa Davis & Chris Provenzano | August 8, 2023 | 0.573[4] |
6 | "Adios" | Sylvain White | Taylor Elmore & V.J. Boyd | August 15, 2023 | 0.665[5] |
7 | "The Smoking Gun" | Katrelle Kindred | Dave Andron & Michael Dinner | August 22, 2023 | 0.590[6] |
8 | "The Question" | Michael Dinner | Dave Andron & Michael Dinner | August 29, 2023 | 0.670[7] |
The production team behind Justified announced that it was working together to develop a new series based on City Primeval by Elmore Leonard in March 2021. At the time, it was rumored to possibly be a Justified spin-off series.[8] FX confirmed the Justified revival speculation in January 2022 by announcing that a new Justified miniseries was in development, taking inspiration from City Primeval. Dave Andron and Michael Dinner were set as the showrunners, and Dinner would direct as well.[9] City Primeval follows a different character, so the story is being adjusted to use Raylan Givens as the protagonist instead. In February 2022, reports surfaced that Quentin Tarantino was in talks to possibly direct an episode or two as well since he is a fan of Leonard's work, having adapted Leonard's novel Rum Punch into the film Jackie Brown, along with taking inspiration from Leonard in Tarantino's other works.[10] In April 2022, Tarantino was confirmed to not be directing the series.[11]
Timothy Olyphant agreed to reprise the role of Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens.[9] In May 2022, just before the start of production in Chicago, casting announcements added several starring actors to the cast, including Aunjanue Ellis, Boyd Holbrook, Adelaide Clemens, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Marin Ireland, Victor Williams, Norbert Leo Butz, and Timothy Olyphant's daughter, Vivian Olyphant.[12][13] Ravi Patel was also added as a recurring cast member shortly afterward.[14]
The production was temporarily halted while filming in Chicago when four cars broke through set barricades while engaged in a gunfight.[15] Sony Pictures Television increased security to the production, but three weeks later, filming was interrupted again when an incendiary device was thrown towards the set. The device did not explode, and no one was injured.[16]
Justified: City Primeval had its world premiere on the opening night of the 12th ATX Television Festival on June 1, 2023.[17] It debuted FX on July 18, 2023, with the first two episodes.[18] The series began streaming on Star on Disney+ in Australia and New Zealand beginning July 19.[19]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a score of 92% based on 39 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's critics consensus is, "Timothy Olyphant's quickdraw charm shows no signs of dulling in City Primeval, an introspective and very welcome return for Raylan Givens."[20] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[21]
Chris Vognar of TheWrap wrote, "Its eight episodes don’t drag or sag, and the skin graft procedure of attaching Raylan to a story that was just fine without him goes off without a hitch."[22] Marcus Shorter of Consequence said, "[The creative team] did the impossible — they continued their hit show without betraying its legacy and, more importantly, told a compelling story that felt necessary for the characters and the audience."[23]
According to the streaming aggregator Reelgood, Justified: City Primeval was the most watched program across all platforms during the week of July 17–23, 2023,[24][25] and the sixth during the week of July 27, 2023.[26]