Justified cast and characters revisited: Here's who brought the FX western drama to life and where the stars are now

Justified first landed on FX back in 2010. It blended in with the endless wave of crime dramas. The show had neo-Western vibes, razor-sharp dialogue, and characters who felt like they had rolled out of one of Elmore Leonard’s paperbacks.

Pulled from Leonard’s Fire in the Hole, the show put us into U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens’ orbit, a man who could sling a bullet and a smartass remark with the same lightning speed. Fast-forward six seasons, and by 2015, Justified had scored itself a little Emmy bling (eight nods, two actual wins).

Then, in 2023, Justified: City Primeval hits. Olyphant’s Raylan is back in action, this time stomping around Detroit. The revival had everyone snooping around, curious about what the OG cast had been doing since they left those Kentucky backroads in the dust.

Justified cast members have still been actively seen in films and television, ranging from Emmy-winning performances in high-quality dramas to stealing scenes with their supporting roles in big franchises. Some of them have used their breakthrough parts in the FX series to become in-demand character actors, while others have assumed responsibilities for directing and producing, thereby making it clear that the show was not merely a launch pad but a career-defining moment for the whole cast and crew.

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Justified cast and characters: Where the stars are now

Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens

Timothy Olyphant played Raylan Givens in Justified. That hat, the drawl, the ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ vibe was a total throwback to old-school Westerns. Raylan heads back to Kentucky, confronts his criminal father, and half the county is criminals gunning for him. He also snagged a couple of Emmy nods for the role.

After Justified wrapped in 2015, Olyphant did not slow down. He did three seasons on Santa Clarita Diet with Drew Barrymore, playing a panicked suburban dad dealing with zombies. Then he pops up in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as James Stacy. In TV, he showed up in Fargo, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and also in the Star Wars universe as Cobb Vanth in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Even scored another Emmy nomination for that.

In 2023, Olyphant slipped back into those boots for Justified: City Primeval on FX. He also showed up in Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth, playing a synthetic “mentor” type. Then he was cast as Anya Taylor-Joy’s dad in Apple TV+’s Lucky, which is a twisty crime thriller. He teamed up with Owen Wilson for a golf comedy called Stick, starred with Jennifer Garner in The Five-Star Weekend, and also starred in an action flick, Over Your Dead Body, with Samara Weaving and Jason Segel. In 2024, he was the voice of the Terminator in Netflix’s anime Terminator Zero.

Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder

Walton Goggins absolutely owned the role of Boyd Crowder. He took what was supposed to be a one-episode bad guy and forced the writers to keep him around. The character was supposed to die in the pilot, but apparently, test audiences weren’t convinced. So Graham Yost, the showrunner, kept him alive and put Goggins in a main cast spot for season two. Goggins gave him this mix of preacher vibes and criminal genius, and somehow made him the heart of Justified. He got an Emmy nomination for this one.

Post-Justified, Goggins has just been everywhere. He killed it in Vice Principals and was unhinged as Baby Billy on The Righteous Gemstones. As for movies, he has been bouncing between Tarantino flicks (Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight) and big studio stuff like Ant-Man and the Wasp, Tomb Raider, Maze Runner, and more.

In 2024, he appeared in Fallout on Prime Video. His portrayal of the irradiated gunslinger was so iconic that he continued to be the character even through voice and motion capture in the Fallout 76 video game expansion, which was launched in December 2024. Goggins played parts in two major HBO series: The White Lotus season 3, where he was the mysterious Rick Hatchett, and The Righteous Gemstones season 4. He also had a special guest role in Justified: City Primeval, where he starred again as Boyd Crowder. Among his recent films are The Luckiest Man in America, The Uninvited, and Queen of the Ring. Additionally, Fallout Season 2 premiered on December 17, 2025.

Joelle Carter as Ava Crowder

Joelle Carte played the role of Ava Crowder, Boyd’s ex and Raylan’s on-again-off-again. She goes from scared housewife to shooting her dirtbag husband. And after that, she slides into Harlan’s sketchy underbelly. Carter made her dangerous and likable at the same time. She snagged a Critics’ Choice nomination in 2015 for Best Supporting Actress.

Once Justified wrapped, Carter popped up as Laura Nagel in Chicago Justice (Dick Wolf’s crime TV empire) and then did the rounds on Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med. She has done the guest star shuffle on Scandal, The Rookie, Dirty John, FBI, and Apple TV show Home Before Dark. On the movie side, she is in Jessabelle, The Big Ugly, and The Hill. She kept a low profile for the most part.

Nick Searcy as Art Mullen

Nick Searcy played Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Art Mullen, Raylan’s boss, but kind of his dad, too. He was always stuck in the middle, trying to wrangle Raylan’s wild side while also keeping the Marshals Service from going off the rails. Art has got this bone-dry sense of humor and no-nonsense attitude that keeps the whole show from flying off into chaos.

After Justified, he has been hustling both on screen and behind the camera. He popped up in two Oscar-nominated heavy hitters in 2018: The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. And then he went and directed Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer, which ruffled some feathers. He even played a lawyer in that one. TV-wise, he bounces around with guest spots, and at one point, he filled in as guest host on The Rush Limbaugh Show back in 2017.

Fast forward to August 2024, and he showed up at the L.A. premiere of Reagan. Searcy is not shy about his politics. He is pretty vocal, especially on social media. He keeps the commentary rolling alongside the acting gigs. He resides in Kentucky with his wife, actress Leslie Riley, and their two children.

Jacob Pitts as Tim Gutterson

Jacob Pitts played Tim Gutterson in Justified. He was a sniper-turned-marshal with a good sense of humor. Half the fun was watching him roast his fellow marshals with a straight face. He gave the character some serious layers, not just comic relief, with a PTSD arc.

Before he started wrangling criminals in Harlan, you might remember Pitts from EuroTrip. He also popped up in HBO’s The Pacific, flexing his dramatic muscles. After Justified, he leaned into the crime thriller and showed up in Elementary, did a bit in that Limitless series on CBS, then landed in The Sinner.

Probably his coolest gig post-Justified was Sneaky Pete on Amazon. That show is a gem, and Pitts got to team up again with Margo Martindale. The series was co-created by Bryan Cranston. Pitts played a recurring character who kept getting sucked into Giovanni Ribisi’s wild cons.

Margo Martindale as Mags Bennett

Margo Martindale just came into Justified in season 2 and stole the show as Mags Bennett. She played a sly-as-hell Kentucky mama running a little country store on the surface, but she was running the whole Bennett weed empire behind the scenes. The way she could flip from sweet grandma vibes to stone-cold villain in a blink was unreal. She bagged an Emmy and Critics' Choice award for this role.

After that, she showed up everywhere. People loved her as the hard-nosed KGB handler Claudia on The Americans (four Emmy nominations for that one). She bounced from lead to supporting roles in shows like Sneaky Pete, The Good Wife, The Good Fight, Your Honor, and even Mrs. Davis. Then there’s BoJack Horseman, where she played herself, except way more unhinged.

In movies, she was in August: Osage County, Instant Family, Uncle Frank, and Cocaine Bear. She even played Congresswoman Bella Abzug in Mrs. America and landed another Emmy nomination for that.

She finally snagged her first lead TV role in The Sticky, a comedy-thriller about a maple syrup heist on Prime Video. She played Nedra in Paramount+’s JonBenét Ramsey series. She also narrated The Chicken Sisters on Hallmark+.

Natalie Zea as Winona Hawkins

Natalie Zea played Winona Hawkins, Raylan’s ex-wife, the woman who put up with way more than most people would. You could see they really cared about each other, but Raylan’s living dangerously thing kept hampering it. That back-and-forth mess was baked into Justified from the start.

After Justified wrapped, Zea didn’t just fade into the background. She landed on TBS’s The Detour from 2016 to 2019, not just acting but even hopping into the director’s chair for a couple of episodes. She showed up on shows like 9-1-1: Lone Star and The Unicorn, where she got to work with Walton Goggins again.

Additional notable cast members

Erica Tazel played Deputy U.S. Marshal Rachel Brooks. She brought brains and kept the Lexington office from turning into complete chaos. Since her Justified days, she has shown up on The Good Fight, Blue Bloods, and a bunch of other shows.

Now, Jere Burns as Wynn Duffy was slick. Always looked like he just stepped out of a mobster’s tailor shop, and you never really knew whose side he was on. Burns hasn’t slowed down, either, as he has worked in various crime shows.

And then there’s Jeremy Davies. He straight-up nabbed an Emmy in 2012 for playing Dickie Bennett, the twitchy, unpredictable son of Mags. Justified always attracted heavy hitters for those crazy recurring roles, and Davies was one of the best.