Writer and executive producer Steven Long Mitchell explains, "The Tin Man is an iconic character ... It's a real throwback in a lot of ways. It's almost an Eastwood character. It's a guy who knows the difference between right and wrong. It's a very iconic Western character. When we made the list, Craig and I, we kept going, 'We need Neal. We need Neal.' He has strength as a man. He is unabashedly a man and unapologetically a man." According to "The Washington Post", when "McDonough read the script, though, he immediately saw the opportunity to play Wyatt Cain as 'that iconic Western Gary Cooper, "High Noon"-ish character.