In the past five years, FX’s
< i=""> has delivered some of the most interesting villains on TV, utilizing the talents of actors like Walton Goggins, Margo Martindale and Michael Rapaport. For its sixth and final season, the southern-fried drama will bring out the legendary Sam Elliott’s dark side for a recurring role, while Raising Hope’s Garret Dillahunt has also signed on, though it’s unclear at this point whose side he’s on. Sam Elliott shit-talking Raylan Givens could be the highlight of my 2015 TV viewing.
Elliott will join the cast as a man named Markham, whom Deadline describes as a renowned Kentucky gangster who returns to his homeland after running a legal weed-growing enterprise in Colorado. With him are bags of cash and a private army, and Markham is intent on taking over his former empire while also winning back his lost love, Katherine Hale (Mary Steenburgen). Elliott could be playing a meter reader and he would be the most badass meter reader in Kentucky.
Hale was introduced last season as a partner in crime for Boyd Crowder (Goggins) and the man with the golden brow bones, Wynn Duffy (Jere Burns). She spoke of an ex who was a very dangerous man, so it’s incredible that Elliott is that guy. Depending on how willing Katherine is to take him back into her life, we might be seeing him working with or against Boyd and Duffy. Either way, I know the writers are going to give him sensational lines. Guys, somebody get me a spittoon for all this Sam Elliott gushing I’m doing.
Meanwhile, Dillahunt is taking on the role of Walker, whose past decade was spent in combat zones as a part of Special Ops. He used to be a hands-on soldier, but now he’s serving as a private contractor, taking on security work for a “quasi-legal businessman.” I wonder if that’s someone audiences are already familiar with, or if we’re getting yet another additional character for Season 6.
I was really hoping that Justified would leave all the new characters behind and figure out a more contained Raylan/Boyd story to end the series with, but that’s apparently not the case here. Still, Justified always gets big performances from everyone it gets, so I’m grateful they didn’t go with people I hate. I’m saying that with complete bias. It’s the last season, people!
Elliott was most recently seen in Ivan Reitman’s Draft Day and had a couple of enjoyable appearances on Parks and Recreation during Season 6. Dillahunt was in the Amazon pilot Hand of God and can be seen in Courtney Cox’s feature debut Just Before I Go.
Expect more Justified in your life in early 2015.
