Justified begins its final 13-episode season Tuesday night, which means anything can happen, now that the story of Raylan Givens is wrapping up. In fact, when I spoke to star Timothy Olyphant about this season, he told me, “Raylan dies in episode seven. People are going to be a little shocked!”

He was joking, I promise (unless he was really playing a mind game!), but obviously, things are going to be different knowing the end is coming.As a reflection of that, as Season 6 begins, Raylan is finally out to truly take down Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), after the two have been at odds, yet always occupied with other obstacles, since the series began.

Justified: Season 6 Photos Justified: Season 6 Photos 12 IMAGES

Olyphant noted that having Raylan and Boyd continue to interact, yet not actually go after one another through the years, “Was always the trick. Because otherwise, you don’t want to just keep doing the same bit over and over. That was always the catch, trying to figure out how to keep it fresh.”He was happy to have more time working with Goggins though, noting, “It’s been a kick. Whenever Walton’s on the set, it makes my job really easy.”Raylan’s a hard guy to rattle, but Olyphant noted, “The bad guy defines the good guy in this situation so the more s**t you can throw at him, the more fun it is to watch.”Season 6 also includes more of Mary Steenburgen’s Katherine Hale’s, along with the introduction of Sam Elliott in the crucial new role of Avery Markham. Said Olyphant, “They just allow the world to open up, those characters. You’re going after Boyd, but going after Boyd you start lifting up these other stones and you find these other folks and try to figure out what everyone’s up to and how it all fits together.”As intense and badass as Raylan (and Justified) can be, the show also has a great sense of humor – a reflection of the work of the late, great Elmore Leonard, who created Raylan Givens. Speaking to the frequent humor on the show, Olyphant remarked, “Yeah, it’s not by accident. We’re aware of that. We’re always trying to find the funny. The whole thing is like a comedy show to me. You name it, it’s funny. I can’t think of a sequence that we didn’t find it.”Justified is still in production, but Olyphant does know how it ends. He explained to me that rather than being told what Raylan’s fate was, as a co-executive producer on the series, he helped come up with it, alongside showrunner Graham Yost and the Justified writers.Or, as he put it, “I was kind of in there making the pie. We all just kind of came up [with it]… we discussed it over the break and committed. It sounded like a good idea at the time. We’ll see how it plays out!"Olyphant is clearly going to miss Justified. When I asked him about the decision to end the series with Season 6, and if it simply felt like the right time, he joked, “I don’t know whose idea it was to end the show, but that person should be fired! It seems like a terrible mistake, yes. I did a scene with Sam Elliott and I figured we could have done two f**king seasons with him alone. But it’s been fun.”He added, of playing Raylan, “It’s a dream gig. He’s cool, he’s funny, he kicks the s**t out of people. It’s a good gig.”

Justified: Season 6 premieres Tuesday, January 20th at 10:00pm ET/PT on FX.Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter at @EricIGN , IGN at ericgoldman-ign and Facebook at Facebook.com/TheEricGoldman