They play a couple of crime-solvers on the Paramount+ series based on novels by C.J. Box.
Joe Pickett, the terrific neo-Western mystery series based on the novels of C.J. Box, is heading into the home stretch of its ten-episode Season 2 run. But there are still clues to uncover and revelations to be unveiled — you can catch up with previous episodes, as well as view upcoming ones, on Paramount+ — so just before the start of the SAG-AFTRA strike, lead players Michael Dorman and Julianna Guill graciously agreed to talk with us about their Must-See TV show.
For the benefit of those who tuned in late: Dorman plays the eponymous Joe Pickett, a crime-solving Wyoming game warden who often encounters human predators in and around his small town of Saddlestring. Guill is Marybeth Pickett, his smart and sharply observant wife, who provides Joe with invaluable emotional and professional support.
Throughout Season 2, Joe has relied heavily on Marybeth — and on his buddy Nate Romanowski (Mustafa Speaks), a lethally efficient survivalist and Special Ops vet — for help with a case involving the gruesome murders of hunters, the coverup of a sexual assault, and the close inspection of an incriminating photograph.
Dorman’s previous credits include starring roles in the TV series Patriot and For All Mankind; while Guill has appeared as a continuing character in Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce and The Resident. Here are some highlights from our conversation with the Joe Pickett pair, edited for brevity and clarity.
Cowboys & Indians: Do you see Joe and Marybeth as an investigative team — kind of like Nick and Nora Charles, if Nick had been dealing with childhood trauma and Nora had to recover from a devastating loss?
Michael Dorman: Absolutely. Yeah, the show’s a real whodunnit.
Julianna Guill: It’s such a fun element of the actual filmmaking process of the show.
Michael: It really is. Especially when we have those scenes…
Julianna: Oh my gosh, yes. I remember in Season One we had this scene where we’re supposed to spread out a map and mark 10 places, draw a line, triangulate where and how this is connected to this and this, and…
Michael: Really cracking the case open.
Julianna: And of course we do our homework, and we know what we are supposed to be saying and connecting in this tangled web we've weaved. But when shooting something like that, it’s so much less about the story and the logic, and much more about where the camera is, and how to convey these things within a timeframe in the shots where we have to do it. And I find for me — and I think I speak for Michael as well — that whenever... it’s like in class when you start giggling and you can’t stop. Here, it’s that feeling doing those whodunnit moments where it’s like, OK, I have got to buckle down and get through this. Because if not, I’m going to lose it, and then he’s going to lose it. So we have to connect all these pieces, and we have to get this done.
Michael: It is so much fun.
Julianna: It is so much fun.
C&I: Michael, your character is in many ways almost a ticking time bomb. I mean, he’s got this way of repressing his anger, his frustration — and every so often, it sort of explodes.
Michael: I imagine him as dry ice in an ice cream container with the lid on. Absolutely. There’s so much pressure built up in him. And he feels like he is protecting the ones that he loves by not releasing any of this turmoil. And only gradually does he start to see, throughout the season, the way that manifests itself within the family unit, and how it affects everybody. So it’s an interesting thing to play. And it’ll be an interesting thing for the audience to watch as Joe is confronted by the truth in the situation, in terms of trauma.
C&I: But to play that, do you have to sometimes on the set walk away from everybody else and keep your own counsel and say, “Look, Juliana, I’d like to chat with you right now, but I’m...”
Michael: It’s such a fun set and everyone’s so supportive that you do get a moment just before we roll up. You’ll always get a moment. As long as you have that seed or that thread of who that character is, it’ll be okay. And then it becomes more for me about trusting the person you’re playing opposite. So for me, I was very fortunate to work with Julianna. And in all those scenes when those things happen, it really helps — because as soon as they call action, I can just look across and I know that we’re going to be okay.
Julianna: And it’s the same for me. And those moments of solitude organically happen on our set, as Michael was saying. So we are in tune with each other, all of us, all the players in this show, in a way where you sense what someone’s going to need that day.
Michael: And it’s never the same.
C&I: Julianna, your character’s mom is quite the cut-up. Have there been times when you and Sharon Lawrence have been shooting a scene together, and you just had to stop because the two of you had the giggles?
Julianna: [Laughs] Very often. Sharon is the gift that keeps on giving. She is a master class in acting every time you are lucky enough to be in a scene with her. She is a brilliant talent. Her depths know no bounds. And she is also hilarious and can call something up. It’s the well that never runs dry. So if you’re in a scene with her at the end and you have an opportunity, for example, to go back and forth with a little couplet of improv before the camera cuts — well, who knows if it makes it in the show, but they’re going to run that camera for a moment, and you have a chance. Sharon will throw something new at you every take. Whether it’s two takes or 20, you will never hear the same thing out of her mouth in those moments. I mean, truly, she is a genius. I love Sharon Lawrence and it’s been an honor to play her daughter.
C&I: Michael, you and Mustafa Speaks have developed a wonderful chemistry together in your scenes as Joe Pickett and Nate Romanowski. Of course, being friends with Nate does have its disadvantages — like, you might find yourself on a hit list simply because he’s your buddy. On the other hand, Nate did drag Joe out of the woods to safety early this season…
Michael: [Laughs] Absolutely. He sure did. And you know, I look at that relationship, or Joe looks at that relationship, as though there’s a brotherhood there. It’s just that they can never see each other. You’re talking about a fugitive. And you’re talking about someone that you want to invite to come to dinner, but just can’t. So the times that they do get to see each other are always moments for Joe where you actually get to see him smile. You don’t get to see him smile outside of the house a lot. He’ll smile when he’s in his home. But the only other times when you’ll get to see him smile is when he is with Nate.
Julianna: And it wasn’t always that way.
Michael: No.
Julianna: A beautiful bond has really grown.
Michael: Yeah. Nate becomes a pressure release in the time of tension, so to speak.
C&I: What do each of you know about your character now that you didn’t know during Season One?
Julianna: I know that Marybeth can survive the unsurvivable. And that there’s always a path forward, and she can find it.
Michael: I don’t feel like I learned anything new about Joe, but I do feel like in the second season we’re stumbling upon the point where Joe is starting to realize that he needs to address his past.
C&I: And do you think he’ll accomplish more of that in Season Three?
Michael: Yeah. I mean, let’s knock on wood. I’m not sure. We don’t have a third season green-lit yet, but if it does — and hopefully, it will — I would say that it is for sure something that we’ll explore a little further.
