Timothy Olyphant Is Sure Glad He Wasn’t The ‘A-Hole’ Who Turned Down The ‘Deadwood’ Movie

After a decade of false starts, HBO’s Deadwood movie will soon arrive, and no one (but perhaps Ian McShane, who never lost the faith) thought this would happen. Timothy Olyphant, who became a household name for his performance as Seth Bullock, even pointed out in March 2018 that logistics would likely be to blame even if a script came together. “It’s very hard to get people together for a barbecue that lasts an afternoon,” the Justified star declared. “Let alone to get everyone together for a production that lasts a month or two.”

Well somehow, the whole gang (obviously other than cast members who have passed away, including Powers Boothe) managed to get back together for the movie. A newish teaser has played up the rivalry between Bullock and McShane’s Al Swearengen, and Olyphant chatted with TV Line and expressed how pleased he was to not have been an “a-hole” by declining to return. Olyphant felt hesitant about this “high school reunion,” as he calls it, but here’s the process he used to make what he now feels was the right decision:

“My mindset was, ‘S–t. I guess I’m going to have to make some kind of decision here.’ It was a very curious process. I did not expect to be in the position to actually have to make a decision; I just assumed it would go away. It’s a curious [thing] deciding on whether to do a job when all of your old friends have already committed to it and you kind of think, ‘Well, I’ve never been in a position to be such an a–hole.’ But it was [ultimately] a really wonderful process with [series creator/writer] David Milch and [director] Dan Minahan and [HBO]’s Carolyn Strauss. I had a lot of conversations with them. The whole process was quite rewarding.”

He went on to call the experience of making this film to be “so surreal,” “lovely,” and “way more rewarding” than he expected. Olyphant also enjoyed reliving old memories that he hadn’t realized were so close to his heart. He was, however, not about to reveal whether the rage-filled Bullock still holds a flame for Molly Parker’s Alma, which is to be expected. It’s also understandable if Olyphant felt that he’d be blamed for holding up the whole project by saying no, but seriously, he’s a busy dude! Over the course of a few months, he’s appearing in the latest Santa Clarita Diet season, appearing as James Stacy in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and now, he’s returning to HBO.

HBO’s Deadwood: The Movie will debut on May 31.