Everybody knows Timothy Olyphant. He’s one of those actors you recognize, even if you aren’t sure what his name is or what you’ve seen him in previously. It’s one of the highest compliments a moviegoer or TV fan can pay an actor: committing their face to memory despite them not being a megastar.
Olyphant is in the midst of a TV renaissance. After acclaimed turns in Fargo season 4 and The Mandalorian season 2, the actor has decided to reprise his most famous character in the miniseries Justified: City Primeval. The miniseries will serve as a sequel to Justified, which ran from 2010 to 2015 and earned Olyphant a Primetime Emmy nomination.
As a means of commemorating Olyphant’s big moment, we decided to comb through his career and polish off the actor’s ten best films and shows. (Spoilers: Justified made the list)
10. Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
Olyphant knows how to chew scenery. He can bring a level of specificity to a character that can make up for one-dimensional writing, and that’s exactly what he managed to do when he appeared in Live Free or Die Hard.
The fourth installment in the iconic Die Hard franchise may not get talked about much these days, but Olyphant’s hacker terrorist was a worthy adversary for an aging Bruce Willis. Especially when you consider the unexpected, and outlandish way in which his character gets killed. Yippee Ki Yay indeed.
9. The Santa Clarita Diet (2017-19)
Olyphant is so good at being menacing that it’s easy to forget how funny he can be. He stole the show whenever he guest starred on a sitcom like The Office or The Good Place, but The Santa Clarita Diet provided audiences with the most focused version of what a silly Olyphant performance looked like.
The Santa Clarita Diet wasn’t the most groundbreaking or outrageous show on Netflix, but it was consistent, and it knew to emphasize the unlikely chemistry between Olyphant and Drew Barrymore. Olyphant’s reactions are worth the price of admission alone.
8. A Perfect Getaway (2009)
A Perfect Getaway is about anything but. Newlyweds Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich) decide to hike through a secluded area of Hawaii for their honeymoon. Things are going smoothly until they encounter a group of hikers who claim to know about a murder. The four of them are miles away from civilization, which means they are going to have to determine what to do next on their own…
The film is a meat-and-potatoes thriller that gets the job done. The cast is uniformly excellent, and Olyphant once again excels as a guy whose true motives are unclear. We won’t spoil what happens, because the film is not particularly well-known, but we suggest checking it out.
7. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
Olyphant is not in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood for very long, but he makes his screen time count. He plays Jim Stacy, a real life actor, who gets tasked with filming an episode of the TV show Lancer with hungover guest star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio). Olyphant proves himself to be a terrific scene partner, both in reality and in the fictional recreation of the show.
He gives DiCaprio just the right amount of push to deliver an Oscar-nominated performance, and manages to hold his own with a few comical line deliveries. He also looks cool riding a motorcycle in the “California Dreamin” montage, which remains one of the best scenes in Quentin Tarantino’s directorial career.
6. The Crazies (2010)
Olyphant is always playing sheriffs. The Crazies is a remake of the George Romero film of the same name, and while it lacks the ingenuity of its predecessor, it remains a tense and oftentimes thrilling riff on the zombie formula.
Olyphant tries to corral the survivors of a biological agent that turns people violent, and delivers the kind of old school combination of toughness and neuroticism that one would expect from an actor like Roy Schieder (who also played an overwhelmed lawman in Jaws).
5. High Life (2009)
Olyphant is at his best when he’s dancing on the line between charming and sleazy. High Life, not to be confused with the arty, Robert Pattinson film of the same name, is a heist flick that allows Olyphant to dance on this line for most of its runtime. He looks like a mess, and does some bafflingly dumb things along the way, but he manages to keep us hooked with his intensity.
We could have spotlit the actor’s great work on The Mandalorian here, or even Curb Your Enthusiasm, but High Life is a lesser-known film that features a more substantial performance from Olyphant, so it got the five spot.
4. Go (1999)
Go (1999) has amassed a cult following in the years since its release, but it still deserves more credit. The film blends crime and comedy in ways that are still unexpected today, and the ensemble cast, which is made up of future stars like Katie Holmes, Seth Green, Taye Diggs and Melissa McCarthy, has aged like a fine wine.
That being said, Olyphant steals the show. He’s repulsive and magnetic as drug dealer Todd, who likes to push people’s buttons after they buy from him. The rest of the cast may have more screen time, but Olyphant embodies the film’s chaotic energy better than anyone.
3. Scream 2 (1997)
Scream is the franchise that keeps on chugging along. Scream VI was a box office hit this year, proving that there’s a desire to see deranged characters dress up like Ghostface and taunt the survivors of previous installments. Scream VI is a fun time, but we maintain that Scream 2 remains the best sequel in the franchise.
Olyphant is a big part of why the film holds up. He’s terrific as a movie-obsessed college student who likes to pontificate on the genius of James Cameron when he isn’t hacking up his classmates with a knife. Is it subtle? Not at all. But Olyphant understands the assignment, and he delivers in spades.
2. Deadwood (2004-06, 2019)
Deadwood was a great show. We’re not saying anything that fans don’t already know, but anyone reading the list who hasn’t seen the show, we could not recommend it more. The show only ran for two seasons on HBO, but Olyphant left such an indelible impression as Sheriff Seth Bullock (a real guy btw) that it remains one of his most iconic performances.
As Bullock, Olyphant was sneakily funny and constantly angry. He tries to maintain a semblance of order in the titular town, which could not have been any more of a fool’s errand. He also brought the goods when he returned for Deadwood: The Movie (2019).
1. Justified (2010-15, 2023)
Nobody should be surprised. Justified was the perfect showcase for Olyphant, allowing him to be charming, intimidating, and funny in the span of a single episode. The character of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens was conceived by pulp novelist Elmore Leonard, and while Givens lacks the cultural significance of a Tony Soprano or a Don Draper, he remains one of the most well-conceived protagonists of 2010s television.
“There is a level of professionalism that runs through a lot of Elmore’s work, that I think Raylan possesses to some degree,” Olyphant told Esquire in 2014. “He takes things like being a man of your word and certain ways you treat people — I think those are things that are very attractive about the character.” We can’t wait to see Olyphant’s take on the character in Justified: City Primeval.