Pratik Handore
FX’s ‘The Old Man‘ is one of the most inventive thrillers on television in recent times, and after the explosive season 1 finale, fans have been clamoring for season 2’s release. The long wait will soon be over, as the second installment is expected to restart filming in early 2024, likely in January or February. The Jeff Bridges-led series will return to Los Angeles, California, to film its sophomore outing after the city served as the primary filming destination for the debut season.
‘The Old Man’ is based on author Thomas Perry’s book of the same name and created by Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert Levine. The first season, comprising seven episodes, premiered in June 2022, and the series received critical acclaim, particularly due to its plotting and performances. It was renewed for a second season on June 27, 2022, with production on the new episodes well underway by May 2023. However, in May, production on the show’s second season was suspended due to the WGA strikes.
At the time, four episodes of season 2 were filmed, and scripts for five episodes had been completed. However, the fifth episode’s script needed rewrites, forcing the production to halt ahead of the strikes. The series was filming its fourth episode in Santa Clarita, Los Angeles County, when production was suspended. However, with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes resolved, production is gearing up to resume early next year.
‘The Old Man’ tells the story of Dan Chase, a former CIA agent who is forced to emerge from hiding after a group of assassins attacks him. Consequently, Chase’s past is uncovered, including devastating secrets and the true nature of his work for the CIA. The second season will follow up the first season finale, which introduced the threat of Faraz Hamzad while also making a major revelation about the parentage of Dan’s daughter.
The series stars Jeff Bridges as Dan Chase, and he is joined by John Lithgow, Amy Brenneman, and Alia Shawkat in the lead roles. Meanwhile, E.J. Bonilla, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Hiam Abbass, and Bill Heck appear in supporting roles. Most of the main cast is expected to reprise their role for the second season, except E.J. Bonilla’s Agent Raymond Waters, who perished near the end of season 1. While new additions or cast upgrades haven’t been announced yet, Navid Negahban will likely play a larger role in season 2 after his older version of Hamzad was introduced in the season 1 finale.
Co-creators Steinberg and Levine serve as executive producers on the series along with Bridges, Warren Littlefield, Dan Shotz, David Schiff, and Jon Watts. Although ‘The Old Man’ season 2 has no known release date, filming for nearly half of the sophomore season’s episodes was completed before production was shut down in May. Assuming there are no drastic changes to the scripts and production restarts from where it left off, it will only be a matter of time before new episodes are released.
