Timothy Olyphant says he doesn’t know if Mandalorian role was a ‘cash grab’

Timothy Olyphant has said he doesn’t know if his recent role on the The Mandalorian was a “cash grab”.

The 55-year-old actor, who is known for playing hardbitten law enforcement characters in series such as Deadwood and Justified, appeared as sheriff Cobb Vanth in the popular Star Wars spin-off.

He first starred as Vanth in The Mandalorian in 2020, later reprising the role for two episodes of The Book of Boba Fett, and has been tipped to return to the franchise in future.

During an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Olyphant was asked whether his Mandalorian role was “more, ‘I can play this’, or, ‘Is this all anyone wants me to do now?’”

He responded: “I’ve enjoyed that. I don’t know if it’s a cash grab or I’m just getting lazy, but I’m OK playing the greatest hits right now.”

Olyphant is set to front a revival of Justified, titled Justified: City Primeval, in a new miniseries premiering on Tuesday 18 July.

In the original series, set in Harlan County, Kentucky, Olyphant played US marshall Raylan Givens, a moral but fast-triggered lawman who rubs up against local criminals. The series was adapted from a series of crime stories by American writer Elmore Leonard.

City Primeval sees Raylan relocate to Detroit, and is inspired by Leonard’s novel City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit.

Speaking about the change of location, Olyphant remarked: “There were these small concerns about cowboys in a city, but all you’ve gotta do is walk around the streets of any city, and you start seeing cowboys. So I felt like it played. You just want to make sure it doesn’t feel like a cartoon.

“You want to be mindful about putting Raylan in the world we’re living in, and you don’t want it to seem like a joke. But I thought, you know, it’s the same game. To me, it felt like it rang true. We acknowledge it, but we don’t want to keep pointing it out. I really thought it allowed Andron and Dinner to put their stamp on it. It was just enough of a change, and it excited us.”

In the UK, Justified: City Primeval will debut on Disney+ on 6 September 2023.