Timothy Olyphant's Justified Shares A Universe With A Beloved George Clooney Movie

Cinematic universes are all the rage these days, and everything from Marvel to Taylor Sheridan's "Yellowstone" franchise wants a piece of the action. With that in mind, it's surprising that more people aren't talking about the unofficial Elmore Leonard-verse, which has been quietly growing since the 1990s. Throughout the years, filmmakers and TV creators have gone the extra mile to make sure adaptations of the author's stories are canonically connected on the screen. And "Justified" — the neo-Western starring Timothy Olyphant as the trigger-happy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens — is a glue that holds them all together.

This brings us to the connection between "Justified: City Primeval" and Steven Soderbergh's "Out of Sight," starring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez as lovers on opposite sides of the law. Raymond Cruz, a detective in Soderbergh's crime thriller, shows up in "The Oklahoma Wild Man" episode of "Justified: City Primeval" via a short flashback scene. Paul Calderón plays the character on both occasions, meaning that "Out of Sight" and the "Justified" sequel series are set in the same universe.

Now that we've established that "Justified: City Primeval" is a sneaky sequel to "Out of Sight," let's discuss how both properties have allowed other movies and TV shows to exist within this unsung shared universe. It isn't always obvious, but the proof is in the pudding.

Did you know that the "Justified" TV universe includes the TV series "Karen Sisco?" It's understandable if you didn't, as the latter series is obscure, despite being awesome. How are they connected, you might ask? Well, Carla Gugino plays Karen Sisco in both series, but her surname is changed to Goodall in "Justified" as the character was married at that point on the timeline.

Elsewhere, Michael Keaton plays Ray Nicolette in Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown" (adapted from Elmore Leonard's "Rum Punch") and "Out of Sight." Steven Soderbergh and Tarantino thought it would be a great idea to connect the movies and managed to get their studio masters to agree. Naturally, Keaton couldn't resist the opportunity to make history:

"Nobody had ever done it [play the same character in an unrelated film] then and that was what appealed to me when Soderbergh called. I wanted it to be like you might be in a Starbucks and see Ray Nicolette and not think anything of it."

Of course, it's worth pointing out that this isn't a seamless cinematic universe. For instance, the Karen Sisco character is played by Jennifer Lopez in "Out of Sight," but since franchises recast actors all the time, Gugino replacing her on the small screen is acceptable. 

Elsewhere, the legendary Robert Forster plays separate characters in "Jackie Brown" and "Karen Sisco," but let's not forget that the MCU features a bunch of actors who have played more than one character. The point is that there are enough strong connective tissues between all of these Leonard adaptations to unite them as a franchise, and that's pretty sweet.