Quentin Tarantino has spoken a lot about his intention to stop making feature films once he has made his tenth, but not to be lost in that conversation is the fact that he doesn't plan on straight-up retiring. Instead, he's talked about broadening his horizons and exploring other mediums – and while he hasn't yet settled on what his tenth movie will be, he has actually already started the "transition process." Last year he wrote his first book, a novelization of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and now it appears that he may be getting ready to head back to the small screen by joining the group of filmmakers developing the upcoming Justified revival series.
This is not a deal set in stone, but Deadline is reporting that Quentin Tarantino is having conversations about directing one or two episodes of Justified: City Primeval – the return of the fan-favorite FX series that was officially announced as being in development last month (nearly a year after whispers first started). Talks are apparently still in the early stages, but this is so exciting that it feels worth it to get ahead of ourselves and invest deeply in the idea of it happening. Perhaps that positive power will force the universe to make it happen.
Fans of Quentin Tarantino will note that this wouldn't be his first go-round in the small screen world – but it would be his first time diving into television in nearly 20 years. All the way back in 1995 he directed a Season 1 episode of ER (titled "Motherhood") and a decade later he followed that up by both writing and helming the "Grave Danger" two-parter of CSI: Las Vegas. He's stuck to features ever since then, making Grindhouse, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight, and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
Tarantino heading back to television isn't the only reason this is exciting, however. For starters, the filmmaker working on Justified: City Primeval would reunite him with Timothy Olyphant, who had a small but notable role in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. More significantly, though, it would mean Quentin Tarantino stepping back into the world of Elmore Leonard adaptations – something he hasn't done since 1997 when he transformed Leonard's novel Rum Punch into the brilliant caper Jackie Brown.
The only thing better than Quentin Tarantino becoming involved with this revival would be a special cameo appearance from Michael Keaton's FBI Agent Ray Nicolette, which would not only mean that Justified and Jackie Brown would be in a shared universe, but that Steven Soderbergh's Out Of Sight would be a part of the canon as well (the 1998 film having also featured Keaton's character).
All things considered, Quentin Tarantino and Justified: City Primeval seems like a match made in Hollywood heaven. One does have to remember that there is a tremendously long list of projects that Tarantino has become attached to before dropping (from The Vega Brothers to his Star Trek blockbuster), but we're keeping our fingers tightly crossed that this is a deal that works out.
