5 Best Timothy Olyphant TV Shows, Ranked

Timothy Olyphant is one of those rare Hollywood stars who seamlessly fits in on both the big screen and on TV. Whether it’s as a mask-wearing serial killer in “Scream,” or a relentless sheriff determined to lay down the law, he consistently picks projects that give him a varied range of characters to play with and create.

In his own words, Olyphant’s career is in a “sweet spot” after putting in the hard work since the mid 1990s. “I’ve looked around on both sides and I’m not complaining about where I’m at,” he told Rolling Stone. “I feel like I’m working a lot, so I might be ruining it, but if I get more famous at this point in my life, I can’t get any more grounded.”

2026 is a particularly busy year on TV for Olyphant, as he appears in Apple TV’s “Lucky,” Peacock’s “The Five-Star Weekend,” and HBO’s “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.” So, with that busy schedule in mind, here are the actor’s five best TV shows, ranked.

Prime Video’s “Daisy Jones & The Six” probably isn’t the first show audiences think of when Timothy Olyphant comes up in conversation, but his work in the drama is an underrated highlight in his career. The show follows members of the (fictional) titular band, as they look back on the dizzying heights and crushing lows of their career.

Olyphant plays the band’s tour manager, Rod Reyes, and while he makes questionable comments about Karen’s (Suki Waterhouse) outfits, he mostly has the band’s best interests at heart. Episode 8 delivers a key scene for Reyes when Daisy (Riley Keough) overdoses in a hotel on pills and cocaine, and Rod’s first instinct is to make sure she’s okay and to get medical help for her. At that moment, he’s not worried about managing the crisis for the band; he’s concerned about her wellbeing.

Olyphant’s 1970s styling for the role also really suits him, as Reyes struts around wearing lots of leather jackets and open-collar shirts with a shaggy haircut and mustache. It’s certainly a step away from some of his trigger-happy cowboy characters, that’s for sure.

It’s Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant as a couple dealing with a severe case of the undead … What’s not to love? The pair play Sheila and Joel Hammond, realtors living in the titular Californian city when a contaminated clam turns Sheila into a zombie with a taste for human flesh. However, regularly feasting on blood, guts, and brains keeps her consciousness and personality intact.

Starring in a zany comedy like “Santa Clarita Diet” proved that Olyphant had plenty of range among his usual gunslinging roles. It also helps that he’s joined by an array of stars, like Skyler Gisondo, Liv Hewson, Nathan Fillion, and more.

“Santa Clarita Diet” is bitingly funny, which makes it a breath of fresh air among some of the best zombie shows like “The Walking Dead” and “Kingdom.” Olyphant and Barrymore’s chemistry is perfect. They’re so dedicated to one-another, but their collective haplessness causes all sorts of hijinks for the family. It only gets worse when they stumble onto an ancient order of knights dedicated to wiping out the zombies. Talented actors, unique lore, and wacky comedy … It’s a huge shame that Netflix canceled the show after its third season.

Timothy Olyphant swaps charisma and charm for cold and calculating as Kirsh the android in FX on Hulu’s “Alien: Earth.” Kirsh is a manipulative schemer heading up the team of “Lost Boys,” the synthetic children/android hybrids developed by the Prodigy Corporation. The show mainly follows Wendy (Sydney Chandler), a young girl whose mind is transplanted into a synthetic body by Prodigy.

She encounters the Xenomorphs when she and the Lost Boys are sent to the wreckage of a Weyland-Yutani ship, and creator Noah Hawley starts to add his own fascinating twist on the lore surrounding the iconic monsters. With killer effects and a timely plot, “Alien: Earth” is a must-watch. Plus, it features a standout performance from Olyphant as Kirsh. He follows the grand tradition of robots in the “Alien” universe being quietly menacing, rather than being outright villains.

The perfect example of this is when he chillingly tells Wendy that he’s not interested in how she’s found her brother, and he only cares about the retrieval of the bloodthirsty alien creatures from the wreckage of the USCSS Maginot. It’s a real skill to make an emotionless robot into a compelling character, yet Olyphant does it with ease, as Kirsh sees everyone around him as experiments.

Not only does “Deadwood” feature one of Timothy Olyphant’s greatest performances, it’s also one of the best HBO original series ever made. The show follows the titular small town in South Dakota, which slowly grows from a place of desolate lawlessness to a legitimate hub of civilization. It’s much more than just the average TV western, as creator David Milch examines the fine line between order and chaos. A key part of that is Sheriff Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant), who wants what’s best for the town, but isn’t afraid to unleash his violent, cruel nature to get his way.

Olyphant’s performance is captivating. While he has the audience on his side, the viewer is painfully aware that he isn’t exactly a nice person. He’s horrible to his wife, has an affair with Alma Garret (Molly Parker), throws punches the moment he gets angry, and shows no desire to change or act any differently. But that makes him all the more entertaining to watch! Whenever an episode gets tense, it’s clear from his furrowed brow and stern expression that it’s only a matter of time before he explodes. Seth Bullock is one of Olyphant’s meanest TV roles, but it’s equally one of his best.

Raylan Givens is the role most audiences know Timothy Olyphant for, and for good reason. “Justified” aired on FX for five years, and became one of the best neo-Western TV shows thanks to Olyphant’s performance. While much of the story is about stopping drug dealers, mobsters, and sociopathic killers, it’s really an examination of the blurred lines between lawman and criminal. Olyphant’s morally gray hero and Walton Goggins’ career criminal, Boyd Crowder, are essentially two sides of the same coin. Their fiery dynamic is one of the greatest things in the entire show. 

While Givens was relentless in trying to stop Crowder, there’s also a level of respect between the two, which makes for some fascinating scenes throughout all six seasons. The series is filled to the brim with fascinating characters, like Moonshine peddler Mags Bennett (Margo Martindale), for example. She’s brutal and takes no prisoners when it comes to her business, but she truly cares for her family and will do anything to keep them safe. She has one of the most tragic arcs in “Justified,” but it’s also one of the best. The show was so adored that Olyphant even returned for a sequel series, “Justified: City Primeval,” in 2023. While it wasn’t as well-received as the original, many critics felt it was as if the star had never taken off the now-iconic cowboy hat.