Now living in Miami, 15 years after leaving Kentucky, US General Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is found to be the father of a 15-year-old girl (played by Olyphant’s real-life daughter, Vivian Olyphant) can be more challenging than dealing with bad people, making sure a healthy work-life balance is impossible. Find yourself in Detroit with the violent sociopath Clement Mansell (Boyd Holbrook) in his crosshairs, Raylan is hunting a killer who is unpredictable and dangerous, and who breaks his cold exterior and ranks him enough to make him determined to see it through to the end.
During this interview with Collider, Reason: City Primeval showrunners/executive producers Dave Andron And Dinner Michael (who also directed the first two episodes and the final episode) talked about the feeling of pressure of the success of the original series, weaving Raylan Givens into the script. Elmore Leonard The story he never had before, exploring this character elsewhere in his life, only bringing back characters from the original series if it really made sense, what makes this bad guy different from the others. reasonable Bad people, and that they want to explore another chapter in this story and do another season.
This interview was conducted before the start of the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Collider: I thought the original series ended perfectly, so I was surprised that there would be more reasonable. So, my first question is, why do more?
MICHAEL DINNER: And we feel the pressure of that. We feel we did a good job ending the show, but this, in a way, is its own story. What we feel good about is that it’s all a show that we know, and we put our man in this, but in some ways, it’s a bigger story and a different story, in the next phase of his life. We feel very good about that.
You took a story that Raylan Givens wasn’t in, and you wove him into it. Why did you decide to tell this, when he was not there?
DAVE ANDRON: Part of the genesis of it, frankly, was Tim was on set with Quentin Tarantino, and Tarantino was like, “This is going to be a really cool season of. reasonableif you can find a way to do it.” When you look at that book, it’s Elmore Leonard’s crime novel writing, and Ray Cruz has a little bit of Raylan in him.
Dinner: He’s Raylan’s literary grandfather, in a way. It was his first Detroit novel, after writing Westerns. It’s a modern Western that is a Detroit crime novel. But on the other hand, Raymond Cruz is a literary grandfather. We like characters in books. We also want to serve the book, and then take the characteristics of We catapult him into the story. We like the idea of Raylan being a fish out of water and in this world because Detroit is a character in the piece. But when we started working on it, we didn’t try to recall the past, try to recapture the feelings that the We did shows, worked together, and whatever. We also take our man, who is in a different place in his life. We all look down, as we grow older and older, and the road is shorter. This is the next phase in his life. We think there is an existing story to tell and a fun story to tell.
ANDRON: We never got to check on Raylan, as a father. We received him as a son and what that means, and Harlan was agreed through him. But now, he really is a father. He is the father of about 10 seconds of the original. When you have a child, you start to see things in yourself, like, “Oh, crap, I thought I might be washed away or get a handle on that, but it’s in my child, and I. Have to face it, head on.” That is really attractive, in thinking, why now and what is different from Raylan?
Knowing that everyone watching, who is a fan of the original series, will be wondering and asking which character might be returning, this is an instant conversation? Is that something you always think about and talk about?
ANDRON: We talked a lot about all the other characters, we can bring in, things that can be organic, and things that serve the story, which is where Raylan is.
Dinner: We start from the premise, “We are not bringing anyone in. We will bring our man, and we will be brave and take him in this.” But then, when we started working, we said, “Okay, we can do this.” We went down the road a lot, trying to see what we could do, but what we didn’t want to do was cheaper than what we did. Also, in this book that Elmore wrote, City Primeval, there are these great characters. We want to be able to adapt those fonts, create new fonts, and make this place a character, so we have a world full of beauty. But if it works organically with, “What is Raylan facing?”, and if it makes sense to put in the character, okay. But we don’t want to be like, “Let’s bring back the ghost of Mags Bennett because everyone loves her.” We don’t want to go that way. If it grows out of the story, we do it.
Do you have to consider who will be there, or is everyone just on board?
Dinner: Anyone who doesn’t die on the show, including some who die, is volunteering to be on it.
ANDRON: When you think about, “What did Loretta do?” Kaitlyn Dever has a George Clooney movie, so maybe Loretta won’t be around.
Dinner: Even Margo (Martindale) called and said, “You know, I could be a ghost. I could be my brother. I could be my sister.” We checked all that.
Can you keep those appearances a secret? Is that what you at least hope for?
ANDRON: I guess we’ll find out.
Dinner: It’s hard (to keep the surprise). We loved the 8 episodes and the little stories we told. We hope people will watch, and some characters will appear, or not appear. I think people will respond to the character. They’re interesting, and the dynamics are interesting, and Detroit is an interesting place. Whether it’s Sweetie (Vondie Curtis-Hall) and Carolyn (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), or whether it’s the Detroit homicide detectives, they’re great actors and really interesting characters. Hopefully, people will respond to that, and then there will be an Easter egg, or not.
reasonable There have been some really bad people throughout its run. Some of my favorite characters on TV are bad guys reasonable. How is it to figure out the level of Clement Mansell, who just seems crazy, at the beginning?
Dinner: He is different from some bad people. In the first seven years of the show, Raylan went home, and there were people he knew. They have what I call a love code. But this man is a nihilist. He is very unpredictable. Because Raylan is a little old, he doesn’t understand his code, and that’s what makes him dangerous. He is one of the bad guys that Elmore created. Crazy or unpredictable is a good description. And the good thing about Elmore’s bad guys is that sometimes they’re redeemable or acceptable, and sometimes they’re interesting, and I find this guy interesting. I don’t know what he will do next. That’s what scared him. The question for Raylan is, in existence, has he slowed down?
Another thing you will see, as you go along with these episodes, there is a very interesting dynamic and relationship between this bad guy and Sweetie, the guy who runs the bar, who is his partner/father/compatriot. There is a lot of relevance in their story. It’s an interesting dynamic between the white guy who, on the surface, is the man, and this guy who is Detroit and who is the black dude who is the heart of Detroit. It’s very interesting.
reasonable There are always interesting female characters, and this new season is no exception.
Dinner: We have Carolyn. On the contrary, it is the three characters in this collision course – Mansell, Carolyn and Raylan. We have never seen her before in our world. She’s tough and scary and smart, and she belongs in this place. That’s cool for us, to be able to develop that kind of character. And (Aunjanue) is fantastic. She is amazing.
ANDRON: We got everyone we wanted. Those are all our first choices. They all said, yes.
Are you looking forward to doing this again? Now that you’ve done this, is the goal to do more seasons?
ANDRON: If there’s a reason to tell a story, we know a little bit about what we’ve done before and we don’t want to just go for the win. I don’t think we will do that. But we all have fun. We are just playing in the Elmore Leonard sandbox. And so, well, if the opportunity presents itself and we know what the story is, we might go and do something else.
Dinner: There’s a story, which is six or seven years into the show, about how you can go home again. That’s the first chapter of Raylan’s story. This is a different chapter. He has a daughter who is 15 years old, 16 years old. She will be released in a few years, and he doesn’t have much time with her. He only had several years as Marshal, before he was forced to retire. He is in transition, personally, and he is in transition with what is happening in the world and the country. We do not get didactic about, but certainly there is a reason to tell this story, at this time in his life. It’s just us reasonable. There may be a third chapter. If people like what they see and tune in, it would be great to have that opportunity.
Reason: City Primeval Airs Tuesday nights on FX and can be streamed on Hulu.
