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Chosen One of the Day: Void Timothy Olyphant on the Good Place

By Preeti Chhibber
Timothy Olyphant Good Place hero

After far, far too long, our favorite band of fork-ups graced our screen again on last week’s mid-season premiere of The Good Place. We were in the midst of Chidi (William Jackson Harper) having finally woken up, and were waiting for his plan to save humanity from being erased by the Judge, played to perfection by Maya Rudolph. 

Part of playing to perfection in the front half of the season meant the Judge’s obsession with Justified and its star, Timothy Olyphant. I felt both targeted and seen by the decision to write that into her character. This week, the show ramped it up even further and Mike Schur and his team gave me, personally, a gift. 

The gang has to get back into Janet’s void to convince the Judge and Shawn about Chidi’s plan — Janet who has become a better, stronger Janet and so now can handle having all these different characters as themselves inside her. She’s been hiding the humanity-eraser from the Judge, but now needs an even stronger distraction, and so she makes … 

Void.

Timothy.

Olyphant.

Friends, the sound I made when U.S. Marshal Deputy Raylan Givens showed up on my screen five years after the Justified’s (excellent) ending? Borderline obscene. 

Timothy Olyphant The Good Place 1

Timothy Olyphant The Good Place 2

Honestly, Judge? Same. 

Olyphant brings back that swagger we remember like it hasn’t been five years since he last wore that fitted flannel, those low slung jeans, and that hat, and cocked his hip, doing his best Alexis Rose impression. 

Thank you, Janet, for bringing Void-Olyphant into our lives. 

Timothy Olyphant Good Place 3

(Real talk: Someone cast Olyphant in another comedy immediately, or better yet, bring back Santa Clarita Diet, you cowards.)