With a huge resurgence and interest in gritty, Western dramas, it was only a matter of time before Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens — with his iconic cowboy hat — made his way back to our living rooms. The long-running FX drama Justified was one of the original modern Westerns, telling the story of a lawman keeping order in his hometown in rural Kentucky. With Timothy Olyphant leading the charge as Raylan Givens, the show's gripping plot lines and memorable characters had fans on the edge of their seats for six seasons.
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Playing opposite Olyphant was actress Natalie Zea, who portrayed his fictional ex-wife and on-again-off-again love interest, Winona Hawkins. While she was only a series regular for the first three seasons, she came back for many guest appearances throughout its run. She's said that Justified's unique flavor and writing style was an irresistible draw for her — and viewers.
"Justified has a feeling that's unlike any other show," she said in a 2010 interview. "We've gotten into the habit of setting shows in New York and L.A., and there's so much more going on in between those two coasts. I think also the fact that the characters are all so specific. ... Everybody has more going on underneath the surface, even the guy who has one scene. So I think those two things combined make a really intriguing series."
So intriguing that the network announced that a follow-up series, Justified: City Primeval, will be released this year. Olyphant will make his return alongside many familiar faces as well as some new ones, including his very own daughter Vivian Olyphant, who plays the on-screen daughter he shares with Hawkins, Willa Givens.
The fact that their daughter plays such a crucial role in the revival series has fans believing that we'll at least learn what became of Zea's character. Until then, let's take a look at what the actress has been up to since wrapping Justified.
Texas-Born
Originally hailing from Texas, Zea grew up in a small town of about 7,000 people. Not much is known about her childhood and early life, but her talent for acting was clear from the start. When she was a senior in high school, she placed third in the state for Duet Acting with the Texas Forensics League. She later attended, and graduated from, the American Music and Dramatic Academy in New York.
Stage Debut
After graduating from AMDA with a degree in theater, the now-48-year-old actress started working in off-Broadway plays such as Measure for Measure, The Three Sisters, The Lights and A Midsummer Night's Dream. While working toward her big break on-screen, Zea also appeared in commercials for brands such as Dove, Snickers and Hellmann's Salad Dressing.
Soap Opera Star
That big break finally came in 2002, when she landed the role of Gwen in the hit soap opera Passions. She was the second actress to play the character and kept the role alive for two years until deciding not to renew her contract so she could "pursue new challenges."
For the next couple of years, those challenges included guest appearances on shows including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Two and a Half Men, The Shield and Without a Trace. In 2007, she found her next recurring stint as Karen Darling in the hit ABC drama Dirty Sexy Money. Zea also landed her first major movie gig playing opposite Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in The Other Guys.
The Justified Era
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In 2010, Zea landed the role that would become her most well-known to this day: Winona Hawkins.
While the actress loved the script, she didn't think she would land the role. After getting creative and persistent with her audition, she managed to land an appointment to read for Justified. But the audition was supposedly "awful," so Zea forgot about it. "About a month later," she said in a 2004 interview, "I got the call saying that they were going to fly me out to Pennsylvania, and I was going to shoot the pilot."
For the next three seasons, Zea gave a powerful performance as a series regular opposite Olyphant as his ex-wife and unrequited love — a trope she knows all too well. "I seem to always get in this role of sort of being either the estranged love interest or the forlorn love interest or the unrequited love interest of the main gentlemen. ... I would love to experience it differently at some point, but I think I do it pretty well, so maybe that's why it keeps coming up over and over again."
By the fourth season, her character's story had reached its natural end, but she was brought back for a few guest appearances throughout the rest of the series.
Series Regular
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Justified undoubtedly put Zea on the map, as her days as a guest star were over. While filming with Olyphant, she overlapped with not one but two other series: The Following and Californication. While she was only on the latter for a few episodes, she starred alongside Kevin Bacon in the crime drama The Following for a year. She told Collider that she's at her best when she's working.
"Breaks are not great for me," she admitted. "I get frustrated sometimes if I have a long break and somebody says, 'Oh, that must be nice.' I don't dig ditches for a living, so I don't really hate going to work. I chose this for a reason. I would much prefer to be overworked than underworked, hands down, no question."
In the years since Justified, she's played a wide variety of characters in both TV and film. You may have caught her in the comedy series The Detour, the TV movie Members Only, or, most recently, starring in the hit NBC drama La Brea. Zea stars as Eve, an office manager and mom who falls into a massive sinkhole that divides Los Angeles into two separate worlds.
"The fact that she's got this hyper-ordinary existence and gets thrown into this hyper-extraordinary circumstance brings out the extraordinary in her," Zea told TVLine of her character. "She's got a very maternal undercurrent, and that manifests itself by feeling the need to take care of everyone."
La Brea was renewed for a third season in 2023.
Is Winona Hawkins in Justified: City Primeval?
The short and unsatisfying answer to that question is that we don't know. Her character hasn't been mentioned in any of the promo material, but that doesn't necessarily mean she won't be returning in some capacity.
For now, all we can do is wait and see — and, thankfully, not for much longer. Justified: City Primeval will premiere on FX on July 18.
READ MORE: Get to Know the Cast of the 'Justified' Spin-Off 'Justified: City Primeval'
