Timothy Olyphant Shares a MUST HEAR ‘Deadwood’ Story

Rich asked Timothy Olyphant for his favorite Deadwood story. Olyphant chose the one that, in retrospect, explains how creator David Milch turned a real production problem into one of the best storylines in the show's run.

The setup, Olyphant said, was a young actor on the show whose connection to the production had become difficult. Drama behind the scenes was building. Olyphant, as he typically does, was staying out of it.

Then Milch knocked on his trailer door.

"Unusually, we tend to just talk on the set or talk at lunch," Olyphant said. "So the fact he's at my trailer, I said, what's going on? He said, we're going to kill the kid."

Olyphant noted on the show that this was not the first time Milch had used that particular solution. Another character had previously had scheduling issues with the production. That character did not live long either.

The story Olyphant wanted Rich to appreciate was what Milch did next. He knew his lead actor. He knew Olyphant would have a reaction. Without missing a beat, before Olyphant could say anything, Milch followed his sentence with what Olyphant called the most Milch sentence of all time.

"He said, it's going to be wonderful for you," Olyphant said. "It's going to be a wonderful storyline. Like, it's going to be great."

He was not wrong.

The death of the kid character, Olyphant said, became one of the most powerful arcs of that Deadwood season. The whole town witnessed it. It produced real drama that the cast played out over multiple episodes.

"It was incredible drama," Olyphant said. "It took up the bulk of that season."

The reveal was the punch line. The thing that drove the most memorable storyline of the season was, in its origin, a cast management problem that Milch had decided to solve by killing the character.

"And it was born out of," Olyphant said, before catching himself and rephrasing the rest of the sentence into a question. "What the hell was this show going to be about?"

The story landed because Olyphant did not need to add anything to it. Milch's writing, even in trailer doorways, found the storyline.