Natalie Zea Looks Back on "Justified"

[JamesG]

Memories From the Set: Natalie Zea on "Justified"


"I have such a soft spot in my heart for that show," Zea warmly notes. But because lawman Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) was not one to settle down nor able to keep loved ones out of harm's way, it became problematic to keep Winona, his ex-wife/girlfriend/baby mama, around.

"If my relationship with The Following was 'complicated,' my relationship with Justified was 'complex,' because we weren't able to make it work so that I could be there full-time in terms of the story," Zea explains. "The creators wanted Winona around, we all wanted it, but at the end of the day we agreed that this is not part of the show."

Even so, Zea "ended up falling in love with Winona," and thus was delighted to recur during the show's later seasons.





One of the things Zea is most proud of from her time on the FX series "was that they gave Winona and Raylan a girl child. I thought that was such a beautifully complicated choice" for a testosterone-driven drama. And viewers got to see a slightly aged Willa when the series ended with a four-year time jump, where Raylan and Winona were… not back together after all.

Though fans were quick to hypothesize otherwise! "A lot of people I've talked to are convinced that are having a little thing on the side," Zea reports with a chuckle. "I know that most people are not crazy about Winona cheating on her husband, but I like the idea that she and Raylan can't quit each other. It's a testament to their relationship."

http://tvline.com/gallery/memories-f...zea-justified/