Justified's Jacob Pitts Had Tremendous Input In The Creation Of Tim Gutterson

While "Justified" is primarily known for the long-running chess match between U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) and career criminal Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), the series also features a bevy of fantastic supporting characters and a regular rotation of recurring parts as well.

One of the most prevalent, however, is ex-military sharpshooter Tim Gutterson (Jacob Pitts). A fellow U.S. Marshal who appeared across all six seasons of "Justified," Tim's wry wit and propensity for trying to keep Raylan out of trouble made him one of the strongest forces of good in the series and, as such, he emerged as the character most likely to pull Raylan back from the brink.

Still, even the most ardent of "Justified" fans might not realize how much input Pitts had into the writing and development of the character. The actor told Assignment X that he was able to suggest a bevy of different character traits and background details about Tim, many of which made it into the show. "Yeah. They really took on board a lot of suggestions that I had and they would rightly thumbs-down other ones," he explained.

Jacob Pitts went on to elaborate on some of the examples as to how he helped to ultimately shape Tim Gutterson as a character in "Justified." "The idea that he had a military background," Pitts cited as one example. The performer also noted that he was responsible for many of Tim's wry one-liners.

"I have a couple of lines in there that I'm very proud of that I came up with on the spot," he said. "One was in Season 2. I'm assigned to watch Raylan, he says he's going to ditch me and then I just say, 'I love this sh**, this sh** makes me hard.' That was my line," Pitts went on. "There have been a couple over the years that I'm pretty proud of."

Pitts admits that his experience on "Justified" has basically become a pinnacle for him and that it's hard for other shows to compete anymore. "I think that's why it's not getting any better than this. I've heard about other shows — I've been on some other shows intermittently, and there's nothing like the level of collaboration and input everyone kind of gets," the actor said. "I understand things are not normally like this, and I'd just be terrible to work with after this, terribly spoiled."

In fact, what might be even more surprising is that "Justified" showrunner Graham Yost essentially created the character of Tim Gutterson just so that Jacob Pitts could be a part of the show. "He was written for me," Pitts said when asked about the character's genesis. "I didn't go in to audition. It was a straight-up offer."

The actor went on to explain that after meeting Yost on the HBO war miniseries "The Pacific," the "Justified" creator thought that the character Pitts had come up with was just his real personality. "I think Graham just thought that was me, because while we were shooting it, I just was in that voice and in that demeanor the whole time, and that's why he cast me," Pitts said. "And then it took a season's worth of calibration. Still, the actor eventually understood why Yost had casted him so quickly. "'Oh, you don't want me, you want this guy [I played], okay.'"

While it sounds like it took a little figuring out to get Tim to the place that Yost wanted from Pitts, the process was undoubtedly a success, as the character remained a pivotal part of the series for the entirety of "Justified" across its critically acclaimed six-season run.