When it comes to neo-Westerns, you won’t find a rivalry as intense or captivating as what played out over six seasons on “Justified.” Timothy Olyphant’s U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens spent most of the series clashing with his childhood friend-turned-criminal, Boyd Crowder, played by the effortlessly charismatic Walton Goggins (currently “Fallout’s” secret weapon). These two immersed themselves in their roles to the point things got a tad heated near the show’s end, becoming experts at pushing each other’s buttons. But according to Olyphant, there was one thing that Goggins couldn’t stand about his character.
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Olyphant reflected on one scene from Season 3’s “The Gunfighter” where Givens questioned Boyd on the whereabouts of some stolen money, to which Goggins’ character replies that he’d prefer to be in Mexico. “Boyd, I’ve been to Mexico, I don’t think you’d like it,” Givens advises. Why not? Well, because, as Givens adds, “there are a lot of Mexicans.” It’s a small moment, but the line was an intentional jab by Olyphant at his co-star.
“The thing about the ‘you wouldn’t like it, there’s a lot of Mexicans down there,’ was something I added just to f*** with Walt,” Olyphant revealed, “because I know he personally hates that his character had this racist past.” But while Olyphant threw these spontaneous jabs at his co-star, there was one detail in creating Crowder that put Goggins at ease — Boyd wasn’t actually a racist, after all.
Walton Goggins demanded that the worst thing about Boyd be a lie
While Olyphant might have agitated his co-star, Goggins revealed that the trait he liked least about Boyd was one that the character himself didn’t even believe. Looking back on the show that brought these two together, Goggins revealed that he was offered the part twice before finally accepting it a third time, but only on specific terms.
“He says a lot of racist things, and I didn’t believe that he was that person. I needed what I believed Boyd to be was a performer,” Goggins explained in his own interview with Vanity Fair. “He was someone that got off on having an audience. The things that kind of came out of his mouth would change so that he could sustain that audience, you know, and keep that audience.” As a result, Goggins requested that Boyd, being a so-called racist was part of his charade.
But that wasn’t Goggins’ only request. “The other condition was, I just wanna be the smartest guy in the room,” the actor added. “And they let me do that.” It was this that kept the two at odds throughout “Justified” and even excited fans when the bulls-eye revival series “Justified: Primeval” saw Goggins reprise his role as Boyd in the final episode. All we can do now is hope for one more round with two friends who once dug coal together.
