Timothy Olyphant is back on the small screen, delivering a great performance in one of 2025’s most hyped TV shows. It’s essentially business as usual for the actor who, since Deadwood, has been about as reliable a star as you can get if you want to give your series some serious acting cred. From Justified through to the canceled-too-soon Santa Clarita Diet, he’s always worth watching, and that proves to be the case again in his latest role: the synthetic Kirsh in Alien: Earth, which reunites him with Noah Hawley after their work together on Fargo Season 4.
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As Alien: Earth‘s reviews make clear, this is one of the franchise’s strongest entries, and the decision to finally go to Earth pays off. Kirsh is one of many reasons why. Olyphant is every bit as great as we’ve come to expect, and yet Kirsh is nothing like the characters we’ve seen the actor play before. The synth is odd, icy cold, and cuts a frustrated figure as he serves as mentor to Sydney Chandler’s Wendy (the Alien franchise’s new human-synth hybrid), and yet always compelling to watch. But as good as Olyphant is, it’s also a reminder that he needs to return to another show with its roots in Sci-Fi and the 1970s: The Mandalorian.
Olyphant’s debut in the Star Wars franchise came in The Mandalorian Season 2, Episode 1, “Chapter 9 – The Marshal,” where he played Cobb Vanth, the episode’s eponymous Marshal. Olyphant brought all his Western genre experience to the Mayor of Mos Pelgo, instantly winning over audiences. There’s a mix of Han Solo-like coolness with genuine altruism that made him a fascinating, fantastic gunslinger-type character. The actor’s charisma shone through and paired perfectly with Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin, but there was also an emotional vulnerability to him that we rarely see in those roles.
Vanth seemed like a new hero destined for bigger things, with plenty more of the character’s story to flesh out and definite interest in seeing it. He briefly returned in The Book of Boba Fett, where he was shot and almost killed by Cad Bane, but that itself clearly set up a new future for the character. Boba Fett‘s post-credits scene included Vanth being healed in a bacta tank, and his wounds also being treated by the Modifier, meaning he was going to receive some cybernetic upgrades.
Alas, that was currently the last we saw of him, but while he’s now gone fully synthetic in Alien: Earth, it would still be great to see what happens next to the Marshal after his own augmentations. The Book of Boba Fett had its problems, but Vanth wasn’t one of them; indeed, had the show focused on him, it might’ve fared better, because that’s how interesting a character he is. As Star Wars continues to explore this New Republic era, it would make sense for him to appear again. He’s not confirmed for The Mandalorian and Grogu, but that doesn’t mean a surprise appearance won’t happen.
The Star Wars franchise will never fully leave Tatooine behind, so there should always be hope for his return (Olyphant has played coy about coming back as Vanth). As the Mandoverse builds up to a climactic event with Grand Admiral Thrawn, it’s going to need all the heroes it can get. Olyphant is one of the very best of the Disney+ era, and it’d be a massive shame to let that go to waste.
Alien: Earth Episodes 1 & 2 are now streaming on Hulu. All episodes of The Mandalorian can be found on Disney+.
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Image Courtesy of DC Comics -
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Image Courtesy of DC Comics
