Timothy Olyphant made his Star Wars debut in season 2 of The Mandalorian, but the role was already perfectly set up in Justified. Olyphant has achieved a varied career in Hollywood, but he is most known for his portrayals of lawmen, especially in the western genre. Before Justified, there was Sheriff Seth Bullock on Deadwood. More recently, he played James Stacy as TV cowboy Lancer in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He even cemented his status as a modern-day cowboy by mimicking Clint Eastwood in Rango, and inverted his typical role in the Hitman movie.
Justified starred Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, a trigger-happy U.S. Marshal whose unorthodox methods regularly land him in trouble. Raylan is a rough, flawed figure, struggling to escape the cycle of violence within his own family. His self-assured smile and sense of humor in times of crisis mask his tendency to goad criminals into attacking him just to give Raylan a legal excuse to shoot them. He convinces himself he does the right thing, but frequently blurs the line between hero and thug with a badge.
Olyphant plays another marshal with The Mandalorian’s Cobb Vanth, who protects the Tatooine town of Mos Pelgo by donning the scavenged armor of Boba Fett. Vanth is a confident gunslinger who does whatever’s needed to defend himself and his people, similar to Raylan. Olyphant proved he was the perfect choice for the role when Justified released a 30-second promotional clip for its second season. The promo echoes Han Solo’s tense exchange with Greedo in A New Hope, but its design also resembles Vanth’s first meeting with Din Djarin, exemplifying how well the western and sci-fi genres are blended in Star Wars. More than a simple pop-culture reference, the promo ruminates on a protagonist’s ethics and the impact of cultural change.
Raylan sits across from a criminal in a dive bar as he recalls the Mos Eisley cantina standoff. He asks if the criminal is aware Han originally shot first, but this was changed "so that the bad guy pulls on Han first." He places his hand over his holstered gun, slyly encouraging the criminal to make the first move. The darkened tavern setting instantly draws comparisons to both the cantina and Cobb Vanth’s eventual introduction in The Mandalorian. In that instance, the marshal casually takes a seat and pours himself a drink while Din stares him down, challenging Cobb Vanth for Boba Fett's Mandalorian armor. Olyphant’s cool gaze and humorous dismissal of Din as a real threat show he has the confidence to rival any Star Wars antihero. Viewers familiar with Justified will know how adept he is at a quick draw. Raylan was never bested in a showdown, suggesting Olyphant would bring the same deadliness to Vanth.
Raylan’s view of the hero-villain dynamic also reflects Han Solo, who looked similarly aloof when facing the barrel of Greedo’s blaster. His referencing of the changes to Star Wars illustrates the modernization of the gunslinger and provides commentary on how antiheroes are depicted differently today. Forcing Greedo to shoot first diminishes Han’s character – he’s a tough smuggler who will do what he must to survive. Greedo was clearly going to kill him, so why risk the bounty hunter being quicker on the trigger? The Mandalorian also questions bounty hunters’ ethics, with Din depicted as a more typical hero lacking the sketchy morals of many traditional gunslingers. In contrast, Justified saw Raylan give in to his violent urges, but use sketchy legality to protect himself as a 21st-century cowboy. He basically uses the Han v Greedo change as a mantra to excuse his behavior.
The Mandalorian calls for a true cowboy, and Timothy Olyphant knows how to administer frontier justice, albeit abiding by modern rules. Justified proves there are plenty of ways to keep the spirit of the wild west alive. Vanth is yet to display the darker tendencies of Raylan but has the potential to bring law and order to Tatooine's harsh and unruly desert.
