The 22 Best Characters In Justified Ranked

"Justified" is potentially the most unfairly neglected TV drama of all time. It was always critically acclaimed with a dedicated fanbase, but it had the misfortune of airing during the same time as "Breaking Bad" — there was no competing with that! As such, it remains a hidden gem of television, a modern-day western following deputy marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) as he is reassigned from Miami to his hometown of Harlan, Kentucky, where he faces numerous ghosts from his past.  

Possibly the best adaptation of any Elmore Leonard material (at least as good as "Out of Sight", "Jackie Brown," and "Get Shorty"), with playful dialogue and some truly great performances, "Justified" perfectly captures Leonard's distinct style and cadence. Even more impressive is the fact the show's entire premise is built from one short story, with showrunner Graham Yost and his team of writers keeping the quality mostly consistent throughout. Unlike much prestige television, "Justified" is incredibly fun, and as such remains eminently rewatchable, with some of the most colorful, idiosyncratic characters ever seen on television. A revival of "Justified," titled "Justified: City Primeval," was announced in January 2022. Now is as good a time as any to take a look at the 22 best characters from the original series. 

Season 6 of "Justified" introduced a plethora of new villains, from the ruthless Avery Markham (Sam Elliott) to Ava's mad uncle Zachariah Walker (Jeff Fahey). It sometimes felt like the writers didn't know what to do with them all. Perhaps the most glaring victim was Garret Dillahunt's former soldier Ty Walker, who serves as Markham's right-hand man for the first half of the season. What makes Walker stand out from the huge cast of moronic villains the show had accumulated by this point is his sheer competence. 

When Markham turns on him, Walker does everything possible to survive and nearly gets away. The sight of him fishing a bullet out of his shoulder in a service station makes it impossible for us not to sympathize with him, but any goodwill dissipates when he coldly guns down a couple of paramedics trying to cash in on the reward for his capture. When one begs for mercy, telling Walker he can just tie him up, Walker replies, "Yeah, I could do that ... but it's been such a day," and guns him down. Dillahunt didn't stay long on "Justified," but he made the most of his limited screen time, creating a genuinely menacing, eerily cool-headed villain. You can't help but wish he'd stuck around a bit longer.

Truth be told, Erica Tazel was a little ill-served by "Justified." While Tim got to crack wise and act as Raylan's backup on multiple occasions, Rachel is the character who takes her job seriously. She's always the adult in the room when paired up with Raylan or Tim, and is easily the most professional in the Harlan Marshal's Office. Unfortunately, that doesn't always translate into a dynamic character.

The few times where she is the focal point of the story though, Tazel shines. In the episode where she hunts down the man responsible for her sister's death, we get an insight into her personal life in a moving storyline that we wish had been explored in more depth. Named by Art as his successor in the Marshal's Office, in the final episode we learn that she's been promoted and transferred; so at the very least, her career hasn't been wrecked by her association with Raylan.

Raylan's ex-wife has a bit of a thankless role, effectively serving as a sensible foil for all the hijinks that Raylan gets up to. Nonetheless, she provides a much-needed voice of sanity amidst the gunplay and banter. While Raylan has several romantic entanglements throughout the series, he never finds anyone who understands him as well as Winona, and she isn't afraid to call him out on his behavior. Without Winona we'd think of Raylan as a standard renegade lawman; with her we see how damaging his actions can be. 

It helps that Natalie Zea and Timothy Olyphant have such great chemistry, making us root for them as a couple through the entire series. For a supposedly grounded character, though, she can be indecisive and often acts erratically (see the moment she impulsively steals money from an evidence locker, relying on Raylan to put it back). She is still cool under pressure, though, as seen in the scene where hoods threaten their daughter and she and Raylan leap into action together. Also, it's difficult to completely dislike a character whose response to being asked if they moved an incriminating piece of evidence is, "What am I, an a**hole?"

Another "Deadwood" alum (along with Timothy Olyphant, Garret Dillahunt, and many more), Jim Beaver brings his usual brand of grizzled decency to the role of Shelby Parlow. The mild-mannered security guard at the Black Hills coal mine ends up running for sheriff of Harlan County and winning the election — with a little help from Boyd.

While dismissed as weak-willed and corrupt by pretty much everyone, he's shown to be increasingly uncomfortable under Boyd's thumb and eventually works against him by actively protecting Ellen May. The sheriff also takes an active interest in detective work, assisting Raylan in the hunt for the mysterious Drew Thompson. Shelby is one of the best instances in the show of a seemingly minor character taking on a life of their own. After hanging around for two seasons, he is shown to be a layered character with a colorful past, and greater links with Harlan's past than even Raylan realized.

Not quite a villain, but equally not a good guy, the boss of Noble's Holler is an imposing, fairly enigmatic character in the series, ruling his community with an iron fist. Ostensibly a banker for the criminal underworld of Harlan, he looks after their ill-gotten gains, as well as trading in information, and provides shelter to vulnerable women — or, at least, those who can afford it. 

Mykelti Williamson plays the hell out of this character, making him alternately sinister and honorable. He gets one of the most menacing introductions of the show, threatening to pour lye on the hand of a subordinate for falling asleep on the job. He is loyal to nobody except his own people, and clearly enjoys toying with the other criminal elements, as well as Raylan. Despite this, he remains one of the few comparatively honorable characters in the series, respecting the wishes of Mags Bennett, and providing Ellen May with much-needed sanctuary, even as he flaunts his knowledge of Boyd's illicit activities to his face.

Cousin Johnny might not have the vocabulary or quite the same level of suave cunning as Boyd, but he's still a Crowder, with the wild hair and scheming nature that go along with the name. Cut in half with a shotgun at the end of Season 1 as a result of Boyd's plotting, Johnny is revealed to have survived, albeit stuck in a wheelchair. He rejoins his cousin, but continues to nurse a bitter grudge against Boyd, and secretly works against him for the remainder of the series.

It remains one of the biggest shames of the series that David Meunier wasn't fully available during Season 5, where he could easily have been the season's primary antagonist. As it is, he ended up being one of many loose ends that needed tying up before the final season. He became more a thorn in Boyd's side than a villain in his own right, although he still manages to land a few blows against Boyd's empire along the way. Ultimately, Johnny is too smart to be a lackey, but nowhere near charismatic enough to take over from Boyd. As Boyd puts it himself: "Some men lead and some men follow, and when you can't lead and you refuse to follow, you die alone in the desert."

Raylan's father gets such a big build-up in the show that when we finally meet him you could be forgiven for feeling a little letdown. A slight, gray-haired petty criminal, he nonetheless casts a looming shadow over the series and Raylan in particular. Actor Raymond J. Barry described Arlo as "pleasantly unpleasant," and that's just a perfect description of the character. He's charming to strangers but a monstrous father to Raylan, and in many ways, it's this relationship that defines Raylan's character.

Arlo's irascible relationship with Raylan's aunt Helen (Linda Gehringer) is his character's one redeeming feature, as evidenced when he quickly goes off the rails after her death. He's still a formidable character though, as demonstrated in the scene where he attacks the men who assaulted Helen with a baseball bat, or when beating up his attackers during an attempted murder in a prison barbershop. A lesser show might have featured some final reconciliation between Arlo and Raylan, but "Justified" wisely steers clear of this and never softens his character. His final words to his son? "Kiss my a**."

Apart from Art, Raylan's colleagues in the Marshals Service were rather under-utilized across the series, and former army sniper Tim Gutterson is no exception. The key difference between the characterization of him and Rachel, though, is that Tim gets a lot more cool lines, and is often sent out to rein Raylan in or clear up his mess. Jacob Pitts quickly became a fan favorite thanks to his unflappable demeanor and perfect dry delivery of some of the series' funniest lines. As with Rachel, we don't get much insight into his personal life, just that he's incredibly good at his job, efficient, and a dead shot. You get the sense that Tim has only started acting out since Raylan arrives in town, and the dynamic between them often feels like two brothers, constantly getting on each other's nerves.

While he suffers from a lack of development, Tim does at least get some incredibly badass moments. He also gets a neat story arc in Season 4, in the form of his rivalry with Colton Rhodes. The two have an interesting relationship, adversaries with a shared history that bonds them together despite being on opposite sides of the law, in a similar way to Boyd and Raylan.

Mags may only have appeared in one season, but of all the series' villains, she made the greatest impact. The matriarch of the Bennett clan, Mags and her "tads" run the weed business in Bennett county, but she has bigger plans for her family. What makes Mags such a formidable villain is the way she plays up her persona as a kindly and unassuming town elder, but there's a steel to her performance that betrays her outwardly friendly nature. Margo Martindale gets to play the entire emotional spectrum as Mags, coolly poisoning those who betray her with her homemade apple pie moonshine and even smashing her son's hand with a ball-peen hammer, to showing her tender side with her surrogate daughter, Loretta.

Martindale is incredible in the role, securing one of the show's only Emmy wins for her performance (Jeremy Davies also won one for playing Dickie). She is nuanced and real, rather than wholly detestable. Two examples include the scene after her son is killed, and when Loretta is taken away from her forever. Her facial expression goes from mourning to vengeful determination subtly but assuredly. Just watching Martindale is like taking a masterclass in acting.

The quintessential Elmore Leonard woman, Ava defies the many labels attached to her over the course of the series. She's neither a damsel in distress, a kept woman, or a gangster's moll, with an agency and personality that makes her endlessly fun to watch. Her arc is one of the most dramatic of the entire series, going from a victim of domestic abuse to, essentially, a pimp. Along the way, she compromises more of her morals until she becomes an active part of Boyd's criminal activities.

At various points in the show, Ava is the love interest for both Raylan Givens and Boyd Crowder, and as such knows both of them at least as well as they know each other. So when she is flipped to inform on Boyd, she chooses a solution that flummoxes both of them and the Marshals Service to boot. Dismissed by both Boyd and Raylan, she refuses to passively accept her fate as just a pawn in their respective plans, as shown in the final run of the series, where she outsmarts both of them and emerges as one of the few characters in the series to break free of the criminal life and start again, ending the show entirely on her own terms.

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Timothy Olyphant's laconic depiction of the Kentucky-born marshal is one of the most complex, fun, and downright cool protagonists of modern television history. He proved so iconic that he even made an in-character cameo in "The Good Place." With his Gary Cooper walk and his ever-present cowboy hat, Raylan could easily be a caricature, but Olyphant gives him a depth that makes him so much more layered than his appearance would have you believe. His attitude towards law enforcement can be best summed up in his introduction, strolling through a Miami pool party to inform a gun thug that he has two minutes to leave town or he's going to shoot him.

Olyphant is great in the role, full of swagger and a wry sense of humor, but shaded with heavily-guarded vulnerability. Raylan has the instincts for his job, but there's a darkness to him that is largely cloaked in his cocky outward persona and southern charm. As Winona puts it, "Honestly, you're the angriest person I've ever met." He's alternately friendly with the show's villains and filled with contempt for them — sometimes at the same time — and he regularly skirts the line between unconventional and corrupt, though only coming close to outright corruption on a couple of occasions. He tends to do the wrong thing for the right reasons, which is what makes him such a great hero, even if it also makes him a pain in the neck to work with.