After years away the FX series Justified has returned to the small screen with the limited series Justified: City Primeval. In this continuation US Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is stuck in Detroit trying to solve the murder of a not so honorable judge. It's a welcome return (at least for me it is), however an interesting cameo in episode 2 has now created some interesting links and the possible birth of a new shared universe!
Sort of.
In episode 2 there's a quick glance at a cop in a squad car played by Paul Calderon. We later learn that this cop was Det. Raymond Cruz, who made an arrest years ago that is key to the plot of City Primeval. It's a blink and you'll miss it appearance by Calderon, but if you are an Elmore Leonard fan, the author whose books are what Justified is based on, then you'll already know the significance of this cameo.
Calderon has already played Det. Raymond Cruz before. In a slightly bigger role in another Leonard adaptation, 1998's Out of Sight. Cruz advises US Marshal Karen Cisco (Jennifer Lopez) in a quick scene also set in Detroit. It's nice nod not only to use Calderon for the role but also to use the character of Det. Raymond Cruz.
This season of Justified is based on the Leonard book City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit, and Cruz is the main character. Now we're just using Raylan Givens in his place, so the inclusion of the original is a nice nod to fans of not only the original book but also Out of Sight as well.
We're not done yet though, because there is one more connection to be had. In Quentin Tarantino's 1997 film, Jackie Brown (based on the Leonard novel Rum Punch) Michael Keaton has a supporting role as Ray Nicolette, a not super intelligent FBI agent pressuring the titular character (Pam Grier) to cooperate with the Feds. Keaton reprised the role in Out of Sight, showing up in a cameo appearance.
Now that we have connections running from Jackie Brown though Out of Sight to the new season of Justified is it crazy to declare this the latest shared universe? The Elmore Leonard Shared Universe! The ELCU! I mean it's more of a thing than that Dark Universe thing that Universal tried a few years back.
Loosely connected would be 2013's Life of Crime, based on Leonard's novel The Switch. Here you have Yasin Bey and John Hawkes playing Ordell and Louis, the same characters that Samuel L. Jackson and Robert De Niro are playing in Jackie Brown. But, you know, that one doesn't really count.
