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. But are we getting more with The Old Man season 2?
Fans were quickly pulled into the mystery of Dan Chase and his past, while these brilliant actors delivered performances that made their monologues just as riveting to watch as action sequences. Plus, a pair of Rottweilers became fan favorites.
With a twist ending that raised just as many questions as it answered, fans are dying to know about the future of The Old Man. While we wait for more details to come out, we’ve pulled together just about everything we know about The Old Man season 2 for you right here. Let’s take a look.
Is there a season 2 of The Old Man?
The most important question on whether or not there is going to be more of The Old Man was answered pretty quickly after the show’s premiere in June — yes, The Old Man has been renewed for season 2.
That news came before episode four of the seven-episode first season, with FX saying that the premiere of The Old Man was the most-watched cable series premiere since January 2021.
"The stellar cast led by Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow, Amy Brennenman and Alia Shawkat is really connecting with audiences and we are excited to get to work on season 2 with our colleagues at 20th Television and this fantastic team," said Eric Schrier, FX Entertainment president.
The next question is when are we getting The Old Man season 2. That we don’t know yet. The FX announcement offered no clues on the timeline for a new season and nothing further has been shared since season 1 ended. Best guess at the earliest season 2 could begin is summer 2023, but it could be longer. When we have an idea of when The Old Man season 2 will arrive we’ll share it here.
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. But first, some back story.
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 is 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 Brennenman), 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 tough 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 latter 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 the 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.
The Old Man season 2 cast — who is coming back?
The cast for The Old Man season 2 has not been confirmed, so this is all speculation, but we can make some pretty good educated guesses based on where the story ended up.
Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow and Alia Shawkat are all but certain to be back in their respective roles. Navid Negahban played the present day Faraz Hamzad and should be assumed to reprise that role.
Elsewhere, Julian is still alive, so Gbenga Akinnagbe is a strong candidate to return, as is Joel Grey as Morgan Bote. Plus, Amy Brennenman's Zoe could possibly come back into the fold.
It is less clear if Bill Heck, Leem Lubany, Pej Vahdat and Christopher Redman — who played the younger versions of Chase, Abbey Chase, Hamzad and Harper — are going to be back. Probably depends on if the show has more to show us through flashbacks.
We’d also just like to put in a request — bring back Dave and Carol!
How to watch The Old Man season 1
All episodes of The Old Man season 1 are currently available to stream on Hulu for US viewers. International audiences can find the show on Disney Plus, with it arriving on UK Disney Plus platforms on September 28.
