Feel free to call “Justified” yet another “gritty” drama a la FX stablemates “The Shield,” “Rescue Me” or “Sons of Anarchy.”
But there’s a big difference.
For starters, “Justified,” premiering Tuesday at 10 p.m., is based on “Fire in the Hole,” a short story by Elmore Leonard, the granddaddy of crime/suspense novels.
And its protaganist, Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens, has visible redeeming qualities not always so apparent in his FX series brethren.
“Raylan is a true-blue hero. He has shadows in his past and he’s not the happy-go-lucky kind of guy. He has issues . . . but he’s still a hero,” says “Justified” executive producer Graham Yost, who wrote the series’ first two episodes.
“He’s on the right side,” Yost says. “He’s not a dirty cop like Vic Mackey in ‘The Shield’ . . . This is a good guy who’s quite self-effacing yet confident. He’s not a yeller.
“I’m a little uncomfortable saying this, but in some ways he’s the modern Western hero.”
That connection is underscored by the casting of “Deadwood” star Timothy Olyphant in the role of the Stetson-wearing, laconic Raylan, who’s transferred back to his home state of Kentucky, from sunny Florida, after gunning down a murderer in unorthodox fashion.
Raylan’s trip back to Kentucky reconnects him to several people from his past: white supremacist Boyd Crowder (“The Shield’s” Walt Goggins); ex-wife Winona (Natalie Zea); and flirty Ava Crowder (Joelle Carter) — who’s just killed her abusive husband (Boyd’s brother) and has eyes for Raylan.
Yost said he tweaked the show’s thematic framework only slightly from Leonard’s “Fire in the Hole,” the short story in which Raylan made his debut.
“Elmore wrote [the story] in the ’90s and there were references to Vietnam and older characters, so we updated it a little,” Yost says. “We made Raylan a bit younger instead of his being in his 50s or late 40s . . . And in Elmore’s story, Raylan’s dad was a coal miner who died of black-lung disease.”
In “Justified,” Raylan’s father, who viewers will meet later in the series, is serving time for dealing cocaine.
“I just thought someone [like Raylan] wearing a hat like that, where does that choice come from?” Yost says.
“Either it comes via aspirations, like he wants to be like Gary Cooper or Wyatt Earp, or it comes from him not wanting to be like that guy behind him — and that’s where I came up with the notion of his criminal father.
“His dad is a criminal and he’s become a lawman. His dad is undependable and he’s dependable,” Yost says of Raylan.
“He’s by no means a Dudley Do-Right — he drinks a lot and kisses women he shouldn’t be kissing but he’s a good guy.
“At his core, he’s unsure of who he really is.”