Realizing he has only one final season to give fans the Deadwood reunion they want most, then learning that Ian McShane is too busy making movies, Justified creator Graham Yost has announced that Garrett Dillahunt will join the cast. The man who played two different roles on that beloved HBO series will presumably just be playing the one this time—that of “a spec ops veteran who’s spent much of the last decade deployed in combat zones, first as a soldier and most recently as a private contractor,” according to the FX press release. His private security work for a “quasi-legal businessman” causes him to cross paths with both Timothy Olyphant’s Raylan and Walton Goggins’ Boyd, who then provoke him into unleashing all his inner demons with all of their relentlessly snide repartee. The press release doesn’t specifically state that the “quasi-legal businessman” isn’t played by Ian McShane, so there is still technically hope.
Of equal interest to fans of people speaking slyly from beneath the brims of cowboy hats, the final season will also see Sam Elliott in a recurring role as a “legendary Kentucky gangster who returns from exile.” He brings with him both “a private army and bags of cash,” which are apparently the two things required to win the love of Mary Steenburgen (as Ted Danson can no doubt attest). Again, the press release does not specifically say that one of those bags of “cash” won’t spill over, revealing it’s actually holding Ian McShane. So we’ll just continue to believe the show is going to get him in there somewhere, lest it suck cock by choice.