The return of ‘Justified’ comes complete with reference to ‘Yellowstone’

WARNING: Post contains some spoilers for Justified: City Primeval

The hit FX series Justified made its triumphant return to the airwaves Tuesday via the miniseries, Justified: City Primeval, and the premiere episode offered an usual reference to another hit neo-Western series, Yellowstone.

The original series Justified ran for six successful seasons on FX and now returns eight years later with this limited sequel series, once again featuring Timothy Olyphant in the lead role as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens.

While Givens finds himself working the city streets of Detroit in this return, he was usually fighting crime in the hollers of eastern Kentucky during the original series and rocking a cowboy hat while doing so. Which are just some of the reasons this show has often been compared with Yellowstone, which is about a ranching family in Montana led by Kevin Costner, who has to play a little dirty in order to protect their land.

In the premiere episode of Justified: City Primeval, Raylan and his daughter Willa — played by Olyphant’s real-life daughter, Vivian Olyphant — are having dinner together at a bar/restaurant. Across the room is a defense attorney named Carolyn played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, and her friend Diane played by Regina Taylor. When Diane notices Raylan looking over at Carolyn, she drops this line:

“There’s a guy across the room staring at you. You ever seen Yellowstone? I would f*** the s*** out of Kevin Costner.”

Raylan was wearing his cowboy hat, similar to one that Costner’s John Dutton character wears, but still the reference may have felt a little out of place for some, especially considering the latest drama with Yellowstone and its leading man.

Of course, if viewers were reading between the lines at all in regards to Raylan and Carolyn during the episode, it appears there may be some sort of bond forming between the two. So the line could have simply been a precursor to an eventual romantic relationship.

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But this isn’t the first pop culture reference made on Justified, and it’s actually not even the first Costner reference. Some die-hard fans may remember an exchange back in season two, episode 11 between Raylan and fellow marshal Tim Gutterson, played by Jacob Pitts. Gutterson quotes a line from the film The Bodyguard, and when Raylan gets confused Gutterson says, “It’s from the movie. She asks Costner to hand her her jacket.”

So maybe the series writers just love Costner. But whatever the reason for this latest Yellowstone reference, fans of both shows no doubt enjoyed the moment.

Justified: City Primeval airs Tuesdays on FX and Hulu.

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