The “Hire a Deadwood Vet” public-service campaign continues to bear fruit, as Timothy Olyphant, Deadwood’s Sheriff Bullock, joins the cast of Damages for next year’s season 2. Sez FX:
Olyphant’s character will become tangled in the life of Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) as she deals with both her recent personal loss and the escalating conflict with her boss Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) when the firm takes a new client (William Hurt).
Oh yeah, speaking of which, Damages also hired William Hurt. You’ve got to be impressed with the power of Damages—a well-executed thriller, but not exactly of Sopranos-level character complexity—to draw in big names. I guess it goes to show that the best way to get movie actors to do TV is to get other movie actors to do TV: I’m thinking it’s the cachet of working with Close more than any special brilliance of Damages that’s the lure.
In any case, Olyphant adds to the vast diaspora of Deadwood regulars to get parts on TV: Robin Weigert on Life, Kim Dickens (and Paula Malcomson) on Lost, Ian McShane on the upcoming Kings (not to mention Kung Fu Panda!) and Molly Parker on Swingtown. (If only they could have hired Olyphant for an 1876-meets-1976 reunion. The man can grow a mustache!) Who from Deadwood should we get hired next? I’ll vote for John Hawkes (Sol Star), who I liked in Miranda July’s pretentious-yet-unshakable Me and You and Everyone We Know but whom I haven’t seen much of since.