NBC’s perfect sitcom shows how to pull off the perfect cameo via Timothy Olyphant. The popular actor has previously been nominated for three Emmy Awards, beginning with Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for playing Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in Justified, followed by Deadwood: The Movie being nominated for Outstanding Television Movie (he was an executive producer), and lastly getting an Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for Cobb Vanth in The Mandalorian.
Along with Givens and Vanth, some of Timothy Olyphant’s best television characters in other drama series include Sheriff Seth Bullock in Deadwood, The Terminator in Terminator Zero, Kirsh in Alien: Earth, John Armstrong in Lucky, and Jack Finnegan in The Five-Star Weekend. Deadwood ran for three seasons, followed by the movie years later, while Justified had six seasons and later got a limited sequel miniseries, Justified: City Primeval. In terms of his more recent shows, both Alien: Earth and The Five-Star Weekend are returning for another season.
On the more comedic side, Olyphant played Joel Hammond in Netflix’s three-season horror comedy series Santa Clarita Diet, Danny Cordray in The Office, and Mickey in a particularly memorable episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Another comedy series that he was only in one episode for is NBC’s The Good Place, but he nevertheless made an impact with his hilarious and highly effective cameo in the final season.
Timothy Olyphant Has The Best Cameo In The Good Place
In The Good Place season 4, episode 10, “You’ve Changed, Man,” Judge Gen (Maya Rudolph) searches for the device that will allow her to erase all life on Earth. During her search, she mentions that she is binge-watching Justified and is a massive fan of Olyphant. This leads to Janet (D’Arcy Carden) conjuring a fictionalized version of Olyphant, played by the real-life actor. The portrayal is reminiscent of his Justified character in order to distract Judge Gen and give Janet and her friends the opportunity to make their case for how to fix the future of humanity and the afterlife.
D’Arcy Carden and Timothy Olyphant reunited in The Five-Star Weekend, which released all season 1 episodes on Peacock this year.
While there are other cameos in The Good Place, this is the best one because it is funny, brief, serves the story well, and does not overtake or distract from the overarching story or main characters. Fans of Olyphant and Justified can particularly appreciate how perfect he is as a suave lawman, but viewers don’t need to have knowledge of the show to enjoy or understand his role.
His lines help to clarify how the new proposed afterlife system will work, but the focus of the scene stays focused on these high stakes without Olyphant distracting from it, which is exactly what a good cameo should do. Superhero franchises and other media have an increasing issue where cameos stop the story in its tracks and take too much of the spotlight, but The Good Place has no such issue in the way it seamlessly incorporates Olyphant into season 4, episode 10.
The Good Place Is The Rare Perfect Sitcom
Between its genuinely funny comedy, thoughtful and compassionate exploration of the human condition, one of the best plot twists in television history, and each of the four seasons being phenomenal, The Good Place is one of the only truly perfect sitcoms. Maintaining such a high level of quality throughout its entire run is an impressive feat, as is delivering a thoroughly satisfying final season that makes the story and character journeys feel complete.
What makes the fourth and final season work is how earned the final developments are for Janet, Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell), Chidi Anagonye (William Jackson Harper), Tahani Al-Jamil (Jameela Jamil), Jason Mendoza (Manny Jacinto), and Michael (Ted Danson). One of their most pivotal scenes wouldn’t be as humorous or effective without the inclusion of Olyphant, though, allowing him to play a small, but important role in the show’s conclusion and legacy.
