Did You Know?: Justified’s Timothy Olyphant was up for Star Trek 2009’s James Kirk

Before Chris Pine won the role of James Kirk, Justified’s Timothy Olyphant was up for the role.

Star Trek 2009 was a solid entry into the Star Trek canon and helped bring the likes of Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, and Chris Pine into the limelight. Pine, of course, would go on to play James Kirk, a role he shares with few other actors. But had it not been for J.J. Abrams looking for a  younger captain, the role very well may have gone to Justified’s Timothy Olyphant.

Olyphant is arguably best known for his turn as U.S. Deputy Marshall Raylan Givens on the FX series Justified and its new limited series Justified: City Primeval but before his turn on Justified, which debuted in 2010, one year after Trek.

Speaking to Josh Horowitz for the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via CBR), Olyphant revealed that had he been younger, he likely would’ve been James Kirk, saying;

"I went in and auditioned, not for Captain Kirk, but I remember reading with J.J. Abrams, and he’s just a lovely, lovely guy, and [it was] just a lovely audition process. I was auditioning for Doc (Leonard McCoy), [and Abrams was] like, ‘I already got a guy for Doc, so I don’t need you for that. But I don’t have a Kirk.’…Somewhere along the line, J.J. called and said, ‘I found a guy younger, who’s really good. I have since then met Chris Pine, and I am a huge fan of him, both on and off-screen. I love that guy. He is a good dude."

Timothy Olyphant’s career was forever changed by being passed over for James Kirk

Had Olyphant gotten the role of Kirk, then Justified would have been a vastly different show. If not one that would have never been brought to television in the first place. So much of the charm of the series is based on how Olyphant played Raylan Givens, and without him, who knows if the show would hold up?

Now granted, a lot of the show’s charm is Walton Goggins’ turn as Boyd Crowder, who was just as instrumental in the show’s success. But without Olyphant to play off of Goggins, it may not have been nearly as enduring.