After Deadwood and Justified, Timothy Olyphant will forever be linked first and foremost to Westerns. And while he’s clearly aware of that—playing off that association in roles that veer into other genres—he’s also a versatile star who’s popped up in comedies and dramas, as well as the sci-fi, horror, and fantasy tales we cover at io9. Here are our eight favorite genre roles so far, starting with his current project…
Alien: Earth
The newly launched FX sci-fi series is mapping out a fresh small-screen story for the Alien movie universe, with plenty of familiar callbacks for film fans. Nearly unrecognizable with pale hair and carefully blank eyes, Olyphant plays Kirsh, a synthetic who seems sympathetic enough after the first two episodes. But will he end up being more of a manipulative Ash or a heroic Bishop?
Scream 2
It’s been nearly 30 years since Olyphant’s mainstream breakthrough in Scream 2. When the first film’s Final Girl heads to college, the slashing briefly screeches to a halt for a scene set in a film studies class, with Olyphant playing an outspoken nerd with strong pop-culture opinions (Aliens comes up in the discussion, as does Terminator 2—long before Olyphant’s involvement in either franchise). Multi-decade spoiler here, but he’s also unmasked one of the film’s Ghostfaces, a freelance maniac enlisted by the main killer to help with her revenge scheme.
Dreamcatcher
When Stephen King fans think of the best adaptations of his work, Dreamcatcher is traditionally not a top-tier ranker. But if you’re rounding up the weirdest King adaptations, this 2003 film would certainly lead the pack. Olyphant co-stars with Jason Lee, Damian Lewis, and Thomas Jane as lifelong friends linked by psychic powers who must battle both terrifying aliens and, in a rare villainous role, Morgan Freeman as a military colonel obsessed with containing the extraterrestrial threat.
The Crazies
Hollywood sometimes remembers that George A. Romero made films beyond his zombie series, which explains why 1973’s The Crazies got a 2010 remake. Olyphant leads a decent sci-fi horror tale as a small-town sheriff scrambling to survive after his community is accidentally inundated by a biological weapon that makes nearly everyone act like a lunatic. The government tries to do damage control and predictably makes things worse. It’s not unlike a zombie movie, in other words.
Rango
This entry recognizes Olyphant’s many guest roles across animated films and TV (Archer, The Simpsons, Rick and Morty, etc.), but we chose this 2011 release because he plays “the Spirit of the West,” a mystical advice-giver, and the casting clearly leans into his fame as a Western star.
The Good Place
HE PLAYS HIMSELF! Or, a version of himself, anyway. When the gang needs to convince Gen the Judge (an Olyphant superfan) to rethink that whole “reset the entire universe” thing, Janet conjures a convivial version of the star, complete with cowboy hat, to help Eleanor and company make their case. (It works.)
The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett
Two Star Wars shows, one Olyphant. He played Cobb Vanth, the marshal roaming Tatooine in Boba Fett’s famous armor—who later calls upon the Mandalorian’s help when his town gets caught in a crossfire of bad guys and even badder bounty hunters. Yes, it’s another lawman role… but a very different sort of wild, wild west.
Terminator Zero
Netflix’s Terminator anime was cool in many, many ways—including the fact that its English-language cast featured Olyphant as its Terminator.
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