NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Entertainment

Walton Goggins: Boyd to the bone

NZ Herald
20 Jun, 2013 02:00 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder in Justified.

Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder in Justified.

Walton Goggins' character in Justified, Boyd Crowder, becomes more complex as the show rolls on, writes Linda Herrick

When American actor Walton Goggins signed on to play Bible-bashing outlaw Boyd Crowder in the debut season of Justified; it was supposed to be a one-off appearance, a brief sparring with his old mate, Timothy Olyphant.

Olyphant, who plays sharpshooter Marshal Raylan Givens, was nominally the star of Justified, which is based around the short story Fire in the Hole by American crime-writing master - and dark humorist - Elmore Leonard.

But as the show, set in the city of Lexington and rural Harlan County, Kentucky, took off to great acclaim in the United States and Britain, and the series kept being extended, Justified briskly evolved into what one critic has described as the "Raylan and Boyd show", a nuanced pairing where enmities have shifted and Boyd, originally defined as one of the "bad guys", has morphed into a more complex, interesting character.

"Boyd was only supposed to be in the series for a short while," says Goggins. "But one of the greatest things about a character like Boyd - and this doesn't happen very often in television - is that you have a character who was supposed to die and there's a series of events where he ends up living. For me, we could go anywhere with Boyd. Me and Graham [Yost, the screenwriter] really got to talk about Boyd and how he could participate in the show and bring something to it that would have been missing otherwise. And that is just exciting," he hoots. "I'd invite Boyd to my party! I'd have a cold beer with him!"

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Although series one and two of Justified - which feature, among other things, an unholy alliance of meth, moonshine and a murderous matriarch - screened here a couple of years ago, you may have missed it as TV One wasted it in a late-night slot. But now SoHo takes up the slack from next Tuesday, running the first two series before launching into the third round. Series four started screening in the US at the beginning of this year, with the fifth given the green light for 2014. And so the "Raylan and Boyd show" rolls on, a billing that Goggins politely takes issue with.

"Boyd is there as a service to Raylan Givens and that story, and I have no problem being number two to the likes of Timothy Olyphant. He is an extraordinary actor but I think our strength lies in exploring both sides of the coin. In some ways, Raylan needs Boyd, he needs that history and that connection with a person who is as smart as him."

The "history" is that both men come from similar backgrounds, with harsh relationships with their fathers that continue to wreak havoc in their adult lives. Boyd and Raylan recognise - and grow to respect - each other's strengths and neuroses.

"What is so interesting about the potential in that structure, that dysfunctional friendship, is that, weirdly enough, they are kind of mirroring each other," says Goggins. "At some point these histories and the mirroring of these relationships they've been having independently with people are going to come together in a way that will be very surprising."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Goggins, 43, who grew up in Alabama and Georgia (hence his soft, drawling accent) says that though Justified is not shot on location in Kentucky, it is filmed in "rural communities" in California and "we are as authentic as we can be, given the budget".

"We get a lot of reaction from the people of Harlan County and that's the most important voice out there. They like what we do. I am from Georgia and there is no way I would be part of a piece of fiction that talks down to or makes fun of my culture and the people of Harlan County see that. We represent the people who are really smart and the people who are dumb-asses."

One of the most dumb-ass families in the show is the yokel Bennett clan, led by scary mama Mags, who is smart but has three incredibly dimwitted sons. Margo Martindale, who plays Mags, won an Emmy for her work in Justified's second season, with Olyphant and Goggins also nominated the same year.

The Mags-Boyd-Raylan triangle is all about the struggle for control of Harlan County, says Goggins, who hints that in series three, the mix will be further scrambled by the arrival of what he calls "an urban element ... anyone looking to make a quick buck, taking advantage of an economy in a shambles".

Goggins has interests beyond acting, running a production company called Ginny Mule Pictures with his business partner Ray McKinnon. Their short film, The Accountant, won the 2001 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film, while That Evening Sun won a South By Southwest Special Jury Prize in 2009.

But it is, until now, his six years of playing anguished cop Shane Vendrell in The Shield which has won him the most attention. Shane, who murdered a colleague to protect his Strike Team boss, Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), spent most of the last season in a state of extreme paranoia, on the run from the relentless, brutal Vic.

"It was emotionally exhausting," he recalls. "It was as if Shane was always the last guy walking into the room, he always had the information 30 seconds too late. It was so painful to love a character so much whose fate had already been written before he came into this situation.

"It broke my heart. I still have his jacket and badge ... but in some ways I am really happy that he died. Now I don't have to think about what Shane's doin'."

What: Justified, Kentucky-based crime drama rescreening seasons one and two before launching into the third (not yet seen in NZ) series
Who: Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder, evangelising "villain" and anti-drugs crusader contesting turf with Timothy Olyphant's Marshal Raylan Givens
Where and when: SoHo, Tuesdays, 9.30pm

- TimeOut

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Entertainment

World

Ozzy Osbourne's final Black Sabbath gig draws thousands in Birmingham

06 Jul 02:09 AM
New Zealand

NZ actress accuses Australian policeman of using CCTV to spy on her

06 Jul 12:48 AM
Premium
Entertainment

Lights! Camera! But not enough action in a fading, worried Hollywood

06 Jul 12:00 AM

Sponsored: Get your kids involved in your reno

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Entertainment

Ozzy Osbourne's final Black Sabbath gig draws thousands in Birmingham

Ozzy Osbourne's final Black Sabbath gig draws thousands in Birmingham

06 Jul 02:09 AM

He performed with his original bandmates for the first time in 20 years.

NZ actress accuses Australian policeman of using CCTV to spy on her

NZ actress accuses Australian policeman of using CCTV to spy on her

06 Jul 12:48 AM
Premium
Lights! Camera! But not enough action in a fading, worried Hollywood

Lights! Camera! But not enough action in a fading, worried Hollywood

06 Jul 12:00 AM
Noel Edmonds to marry again: British TV star proposes in hot tub in NZ

Noel Edmonds to marry again: British TV star proposes in hot tub in NZ

05 Jul 09:00 PM
Sponsored: Why heat pumps make winter cheaper
sponsored

Sponsored: Why heat pumps make winter cheaper

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP