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Loretta McCready is a recurring character in the FX series Justified. Loretta is the young daughter and only child of Walt and Sally Anne McCready, who lives with the Bennett family after the disappearance of her father. Loretta soon discover the Bennetts killed her father in "Brother's Keeper", and Coover attempts to kill her because of finding out. After that, she is sent to live with a foster family, but soon escapes from them in "Bloody Harlan", to get revenge on the Bennetts for killing her father. She is now back with her foster family, where Raylan comes to her aid whenever he can, much to his chagrin. Loretta is portrayed by guest star Kaitlyn Dever.

Biography[]

Background[]

Loretta is the young daughter and only child of Walt and Sally Anne McCready. Loretta helps out her father, who is a marijuana farmer. Loretta also sells marijuana to her young classmates, and reveals to Raylan in "The Devil You Know", that she sells heroin as well. Loretta possesses Mag's $3.2 million of stashed money as revealed in "Coalition".

Season 2[]

Loretta lives with her father after the death of her mother. In the Episode "The Moonshine War," Loretta helps out in the pot house by snipping the crops. There, she is targeted by a child molester named James Earl Dean. James harasses her at work one day, but Loretta tells him she knows exactly what is running through his mind while he talks to her, which quickly shuts James up. Loretta punches James in an attempt to escape. James pursues her but runs into a booby trap that impales shards of metal into his face. Although Loretta tells him about the harassment, her father refuses to turn him into the authorities. This is because James works for the Bennetts, who are the main pot dealers in Harlan and who the McCreadies are thwarting by growing their own crops.

Loretta confides in Mags about James, and Mags reassures her that James will not mess with her anymore. However, later that night while attending to her father's wounds (Walt had been shot in the leg by Doyle, and forced to put his foot in a bear trap so that he would not shoot at them as they left). James shows up and kidnaps her. Raylan and Rachel eventually find James parked at a gas station, and Raylan saves Loretta. Meanwhile, Mags and Dickie visit Walt and poison him with a glass of apple pie moonshine.

From that moment on, Loretta begins to live with the Bennetts. Mags claims that her father went down south for work; unbeknownst to Loretta, he is dead. Coover and Dickie dumped the body down a mine shaft so that it could never be located. Mags treats Loretta like her own daughter, even letting her manage the store while she is gone (something Coover admits that Mags never let him or Dickie do). In turn, Loretta admires and confides in Mags.

Raylan finds Loretta at the end of the episode Cottonmouth distributing weed to some of her friends from school. Raylan tells her if she finds herself in any danger to call him and he will drop whatever he is doing to assist her.

Loretta eventually learns of her father's fate in the episode Brother's Keeper. While helping Coover put kegs on the back of his truck, she spots Walt's watch on his wrist. Coover asks her what's wrong and says she looks like she's seen a ghost. In this episode as well, we learn Coover has been jealous of Loretta the entire time (particularly since Coover overheard a conversation between Mags and Loretta, where Mags admits she used to tell people that Coover was dropped on his head). Loretta goes over to Coover's house with a blunt that has been laced with formaldehyde in order to try and kill him. Coover fakes passing out, and Loretta finds the watch in a room that Dickie is sleeping in, and quickly calls Raylan but is busted by Coover. Coover, after choking out Dickie, pursues Loretta who escaped during the brawl between the brothers. Raylan locates them at the mine and a brawl ensues between Coover and Raylan. Coover has the upper hand as Raylan is close to falling down the mine shaft, but Loretta comes in with a gun distracting Coover. Raylan uses this opportunity to shoot Cover, who falls down the mine shaft to his death. After all this is over the next morning, Raylan reveals to Art that Loretta has been placed in a foster home. Mags shows up to say goodbye to Loretta, but Raylan shoots her down telling her there is NO WAY she will ever contact Loretta again.

Loretta appears in the next episode Debts and Accounts. Raylan has to go talk to her after she refuses to live with her new foster family. Loretta asks why the Bennetts killed Walt, and that he was only a "sad, old man." Raylan tells her that he was just working for some bad people. Two things that Loretta and Raylan have in common come out during this conversation: Both of their mothers are dead, and neither thought highly of their father. Raylan manages to coax her into going inside the house, saying that she will have two kids that will see her as a big sister and will always look up to her, and tells her she will meet boys and make new friends as well.

Loretta plays a main role once again in the Season 2 Finale Bloody Harlan. At the beginning of the episode, Loretta fakes a head cold in order to miss church. We also see a man waiting in a tan car staring at Loretta, and Loretta stares at before walking inside. Raylan soon gives a call from Riley, saying that Loretta has been abducted. Wade Messer, the man in the car, is helping to bring her back across Harlan. Loretta's plans are to avenge the death of her father, Walt. Loretta finally comes to the Bennett's house and goes in to talk to Mags. Loretta pulls a gun out on Mags whenever they go inside and Mags tries to talk Loretta out of shooting, but winds up being shot in the leg. After the marshals arrive, they go inside and Raylan manages to talk Loretta out of shooting Mags, saying that shooting her is not going to change her life "for the better". Loretta reluctantly gives Raylan her gun and they walk outside.

Season 3[]

Loretta is next seen in "The Devil You Know". Raylan and Rachel visit her at her foster home, hoping to find out about the whereabouts of Mags's stashed money. After a lot of bantering by Raylan, Loretta tips him off that Ellstin Limehouse may be the holder of the money.

In "Coalition", she is brought into the Marshals office for safety after Dickie and Errol attempt to rob her of it after Errol confesses that the money is with her. Raylan talks with her, and says that he is going to respect Mags's decision and not pursue the money, just as long as Loretta does not spend it since it has been used in criminal enterprises. Raylan says that if he finds out that Loretta has spent the money on a brand new Lexus or she has Van Halen perform at her birthday party, he will throw her in detention and take the money with him. Loretta replies "Marshal, do I in any way strike you as a Van Halen fan?", and promises not to spend it.

Season 5[]

In "The Kids Aren't All Right", Raylan is called to a police station by Loretta, as she has been arrested for attempting to sell marijuana to the son of a police officer. Rather than bail her out, Raylan leaves her in the cell and brushes off Loretta's boyfriend Derek Waters before departing. Later that night, Loretta shows up at the Marshals office, asking what Raylan did because now Derek is gone missing. They find Derek digging for buried money and save him from being killed by Roscoe and Jay. Raylan drops Derek off at a bus stop, while Loretta opts to remain in the car. By the time they reach Loretta’s home, Raylan realizes that she played him into solving her problem with Dunham after she moved the money without Derek’s knowledge, though she insists Raylan would have helped her anyway. 

Season 6[]

In "The Trash and the Snake", it is revealed that she managed to snake the Bennett property from Dickie by using an alias. Ty Walker visits her and offers to make a deal for the land, which she eventually turns down when Raylan and Tim show up. After being visited by Avery Markham and learning that he kills land owners to seize their property for his weed growing business, Raylan suggests leaving two guys out front for Loretta's protection as she rejected their offers and is likely a target. 

In "Burned", Loretta comes home to a dead rattlesnake with its head shot off lying on the floor. Boon barges into her house and vaguely threatens her by showing off his quick-draw skill and "noticing" the rattlesnake, saying to Loretta that "whoever shot that snake is one deranged and possibly dangerous individual. So if you’d made any enemies lately, I’d highly advise you to make peace by any and all means necessary, just so they don’t send this idiot back here again." Rattled by Boon's threat, Loretta cuts a deal with Boyd for protection and distribution so that she can grow weed and go up against Markham. Boyd agrees to the deal and offers her the properties that they blocked Markham from obtaining and advises her to buy them for a reasonable price. At Markham's party, Raylan offers to sell her Arlo's property and only wants the property's worth for a reasonable price. Loretta upstages Markham during his speech and offers Harlan a more profitable solution to the weed business: That the landowners will not be forced to leave their properties and that they will hire locals for protection and farming, winning over the crowd. However, Loretta's announcement that she is working with Boyd causes Raylan to pull his offer to sell Arlo's property, as it will ruin the RICO case. Loretta tells Raylan that she hopes he will reconsider once the dust settles with Boyd.

In "Fugitive Number One", Loretta gets into her car and finds Boon in the backseat, who continues to intimidate her into joining Markham's side as he has a lot more than the amount of Bennett money that Loretta is still in possession of and promises the offer of protection so that nothing happens to her and she coldly shoots the offer down. Boon remarks that she has a fire in her belly, but not to let it burn her brain.

In "Collateral", Loretta and Derek hide out inside of a barn when they are found by Boon, who continues to intimidate and harass Loretta and enters a standoff with Derek, who Boon shoots in the shoulder during a standoff. When Markham arrives to the barn, Loretta listens as Markham promptly shoots and kills Derek and reveals to Loretta the reason that Boon has been pressuring her all this time is so that she can reveal where Ava has been holding up with his money due to Loretta's connection to Boyd. Loretta tells him she does not know and he gives her 30 minutes to plead her case of why he shouldn't kill her. She offers him her partnership and exclaims her strong points, as she has grown up around marijuana and knows the business, as well as the people in Harlan. 

In "The Promise", Loretta accompanies Boon when he sets out to Compass Rock to find Zachariah Randolph and the other $9 million of Markham's money that is missing. As Raylan drives to Lexington with Ava, Boon rear ends him in his truck and tells Raylan that he has been following him since he left the drying shed and has saved Raylan the trouble of looking for him. Both men draw their guns and fire, both falling down onto the road. Boon is still alive and reaches over for his gun, but Loretta steps on his wrist to protect Raylan from being killed and Boon dies. Raylan wakes up with his head only grazed from the bullet and they both watch as Ava steals the car and leaves. 

Relationships[]

Memorable Quotes[]

Appearances[]

Season two appearances
The Moonshine War The Life Inside The I of the Storm For Blood or Money Cottonmouth
Blaze of Glory Save My Love The Spoil Brother's Keeper Debts and Accounts
Full Commitment Reckoning Bloody Harlan
Season three appearances
The Gunfighter Cut Ties Harlan Roulette The Devil You Know Thick as Mud
When the Guns Come Out The Man Behind The Curtain Watching the Detectives Loose Ends Guy Walks Into a Bar
Measures Coalition Slaughterhouse
Season five appearances
A Murder of Crowes The Kids Aren't All Right Good Intentions Over the Mountain Shot All to Hell
Kill the Messenger Raw Deal Whistle Past the Graveyard Wrong Roads Weight
The Toll Starvation Restitution
Season six appearances
Fate's Right Hand Cash Game Noblesse Oblige The Trash and the Snake Sounding
Alive Day The Hunt Dark as a Dungeon Burned Trust
Fugitive Number One Collateral The Promise

Image Gallery[]

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