The Old Man season 2: release date, trailer, cast and everything we know about the Jeff Bridges spy drama
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One of the big hits of the summer 2022 TV season was The Old Man, a spy thriller starring Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow, Amy Brenneman and Alia Shawkat. We knew pretty soon after its airing that we would be getting more, but it's been a long wait for The Old Man season 2. Well, that wait is about to end.
Fans who were pulled into the mystery of Dan Chase and his past are getting answers as The Old Man season 2 is set to return in fall 2024. Meaning after two years, we will finally see the fallout of the season 1 twist ending.
Here is everything that we know about The Old Man season 2.
The Old Man season 2 release date
Immediately shooting to the top of our most anticipated fall 2024 TV shows, The Old Man season 2 premieres on FX on Thursday, September 12, at 10 pm ET/PT.
The first two episodes of the season air on September 12, with the remaining episodes of the eight-episode season releasing one at a time on the following Thursdays. For those without cable, The Old Man season 2 episodes will be available to stream the next day on Hulu.
FX is a cable network that is available through most traditional pay-TV providers as well as many live TV streaming services, including Fubo, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV. To watch the show on-demand on Hulu, you need to sign up for the streamer as a standalone service, as part of Hulu with Live TV or bundle it with Disney Plus in the Disney Bundle.
For those in the UK and others outside the US, The Old Man season 2 is going to premiere on Disney Plus at an as yet unspecified date.
The Old Man season 2 cast
The Old Man cast was astounding in the first season. Their brilliant performances (along with the high-quality writing) made monologues just as riveting to watch as the show's action sequences. The good news is that all of the main players are back for season 2.
Jeff Bridges returns as Dan Chase, the enigmatic former spy, as does John Lithgow as Harold Harper, the FBI Assistant Director and Chase's former handler. Then there is Alia Shawkat as Emily Chase, daughter of Dan, who for years was undercover as Harper's assistant. Also back is Amy Brenneman as Zoe McDonald, who was dragged into this world of spies by Dan, and Gbenga Akinnagbe as Julian Carson, an assassin who was hired to kill Dan but is now at a crossroads.
Though we saw very little of him in season 1, Navid Negahban is also back in the role of Faraz Hamzad, a powerful Afghan tribal leader who has a history with Dan. Also coming back (as revealed by the trailer) is Joel Grey and, perhaps more importantly, Dave and Carol, he Rottweilers that became fan favorites.
A new addition to the cast that has been announced is Jacqueline Antaramian, who plays Khadija, Hamzad's sister and trusted advisor.
The Old Man season 2 plot
If you want a detailed recap of what happened at the end of The Old Man season 1, read our ending explained bit below. But as we look ahead to the new season, here is the official synopsis for The Old Man season 2:
"In season 2 of FX's The Old Man, former CIA agent Dan Chase and former FBI Assistant Director Harold Harper set off on their most important mission to date —
to recover Emily Chase after she is kidnapped by Faraz Hamzad, a powerful Afghan tribal leader. With all three men claiming her as their daughter, Emily finds herself in an identity crisis that has dire implications.
"As Chase and Harper fight their way to get to Emily, Hamzad is forced to make decisions that could endanger his family and the village he has led faithfully for a lifetime. Khadija, Hamzad's sister and trusted advisor, is concerned about the path her brother has taken and what it will cost them. As the stakes get higher and more secrets are uncovered, Zoe McDonald makes surprising moves after having been drawn into a new world by Chase. Meanwhile, Julian Carson is disillusioned by his former role and finds himself at a crossroads with a path he hadn't imagined for himself."
The Old Man season 2 trailer
FX has debuted the official trailer for The Old Man season 2, which offers plenty of action, personal drama and more. We can't wait.
Watch the trailer right here:
You can also check out the previously released teaser trailers:
The Old Man season 1 ending explained
As we eagerly wait for The Old Man season 2, let’s recap how things wrapped up in season 1. SPOILER ALERT if you are not caught up with The Old Man.
The entire first season centered on Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges) an ex-spy whose life is upended when a figure from his past, Faraz Hamzad (Pej Vahdat), seeks him out after many years. Trying to bring Chase in and de-escalate the situation are the FBI’s Harold Harper (John Lithgow), his trusted protege Angela Adams (Alia Shawkat) and young CIA agent Raymond Waters (EJ Bonilla). Chase, meanwhile, ends up becoming involved with a single mom, Zoe (Amy Brenneman), who joins him on the run from the FBI and, for an extra challenge, a highly trained assassin, Julian (Gbenga Akinnagbe), recommended to Harper by the shadowy power player Morgan Bote (Joel Grey).
The big reveal before the season 1 finale was that Angela Adams is actually an alias for Emily Chase, Dan Chase's daughter with the former wife of Hamzad (the duo escaped Hamzad together in the 80s). When Harper learns her true identity, he starts to question his relationship with her, but that all changes when she is kidnapped, forcing him to team up with Chase to get her back.
This leads into the season 1 finale, where Chase agrees to surrender himself to Hamzad with the promise that Emily will be safe. This also means saying goodbye to Zoe. As Harper transports Chase, he wants to know more about the flight that he helped arrange for Chase to escape Hamzad and the reason all this happened, so he can explain it to Emily. Before Chase says anything though, they learn that Hamzad is not keeping his promise of keeping Emily out of it.
Julian and Raymond were part of the crew that kidnapped Emily, but with the belief it would be to hold and protect her. However, they realize that they are surrounded by Hamzad’s men and need to escape. While Julian is able to take out a number of men so Raymond and Emily can make a break for it, when they stop for a woman in the street she pulls out a gun and shoots Raymond and takes Emily.
Chase and Harper arrive on the scene too late. It’s now that Chase reveals to Harper the details of the flight — there were three passengers, not two: Chase, Hamzad’s wife and Hamzad’s young daughter, who Chase took in as his own.
The final moments of the season see an older Hamzad lay eyes on his long-lost daughter, Emily.
How does The Old Man TV show differ from the book?
The Old Man is based on the Thomas Perry novel, The Old Man, but how closely does the TV adaptation stay true to its source material? Let's go into some of the biggest changes.
One difference is why Chase is on the run from Hamzad (Hamzah in the book). In the show, Chase escaped Hamzad, an Afghan war-lord during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, with his wife and, we later learn, his young daughter. However, in the book, Hamzah, written as being from Libya, is after Chase because he took $20 million from him. This gives additional depth to the character of Abbey Chase and how her death impacts Chase in the show.
Along those same lines, Emily is different in the TV show than she was in the book. The show reveals Emily has a double life as Angela Adams, working with Harold Harper in the FBI, and is later revealed to actually be the daughter of Hamzad. The book version of Emily, however, has no alias or connection to Hamzad.
There are other differences, like name changes, settings and some character backstories (Julian being one example), but above are the ones that have major impacts on The Old Man season 1.
The Old Man book is a standalone novel, so it'll be interesting to see if these changes continue to impact and alter the story of the novel, or if the creators will find a way to work it all into how the original novel ended.
