FX secured the rights to Justified after a bidding war that included HBO as a finalist. Series creator Graham Yost cited FX chairman John Landgraf's passion for author Elmore Leonard as the deciding factor.
Justified aired for six seasons on FX from 2010 to 2015. The series adapted Elmore Leonard's novels and short stories about Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, played by Timothy Olyphant. Yost told the Television Academy that the project was pitched to nine outlets. He said it came down to HBO and FX, with Landgraf's prior work on Karen Sisco and his enthusiasm for Leonard tipping the scales toward FX. The show achieved strong critical success with a 97 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes and drew more than 2 million viewers per season on average. Its popularity led to the 2023 miniseries sequel Justified: City Primeval. In a 2025 GQ interview, Olyphant expressed interest in reuniting with co-star Walton Goggins. He said he would love to work with Goggins again and hoped a window would open in the coming years.