See Jeff Bridges As A Spy In His First Time On Screen Since Cancer Diagnosis
The Dude is back!
Jeff Bridges is back! Jeff Bridges is back! Do we seem excited? We are, because Jeff Bridges is back! Not only is he back, but we get more of him than usual! The Dude himself is starring in the new, long-delayed FX thriller series The Old Man. Yesterday, the first official images from the series were released featuring both Bridges and one of his adversaries in the show played by John Lithgow.
As per Entertainment Weekly‘s preview of the show, Jeff Bridges stars as Dan Chase in The Old Man. Chase was once an operative for the CIA but he’s been living “off the grid” ever since leaving the agency years before the events of the show. He’s forced back into the world of intrigue when an assassin surfaces looking to make Chase’s retirement even more permanent. A shot from the series is below, with Bridges as Chase flanked by two formidable looking Rottweilers.
The assassin pursuing Jeff Bridges won’t be the only one after the former CIA spook. John Lithgow (3rd Rock from the Sun) plays Harold Harper, the FBI’s assistant director for counterintelligence who has some kind of interesting past with Chase. And if Bridges and Lithgow in the same series playing adversaries doesn’t make you want to scream “shut up and take my money,” then we just don’t know how drunk you are right now. You can see a shot of Lithgow as Harper below.
Harper is just one of a long list of people coming after Jeff Bridges in The Old Man. Harper will be joined by his protégé Angela Adams, played by Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development). The CIA will pursue their former employee as well, sending E.J. Bonilla (Gemini Man) as Agent Raymond Waters and Gbenga Akinnagbe (The Taking of Pelham 123) as a “special-ops contractor.” Caught up in the mix with all these operatives and ex-operatives is Amy Brenneman (Heat) as Zoe, a woman who has the misfortune of renting a room to Chase.
Why are all these people on Dan Chase’s tail? Well, EW doesn’t say, but if it’s anything like the source material, it probably isn’t a huge mystery. The Old Man is based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Thomas Perry, and in the novel when Dan Chase leaves the CIA, he doesn’t do it empty-handed; he does it after treating himself to a $20 million payday while working in Libya. Assuming the same will be true of the character Jeff Bridges plays in the series, the only surprise will be that there aren’t more people gunning for him.
As EW points out, The Old Man marks Jeff Bridges’ first appearance in a recurring role on a TV series in over half a century. He hasn’t appeared in more than one-offs on a TV show since he and his brother Beau would occasionally show up on their father’s series Sea Hunt and The Lloyd Bridges Show. It also marks his first screen appearance since his cancer diagnosis. The Oscar winner told the world about his lymphoma diagnosis in 2020 and, the following year, made millions sigh in relief when he announced his cancer was in remission. As noted by Variety, The Old Man was well into production when Bridges received the diagnosis, and temporarily halted in the wake of the news.
The Jeff Bridges series The Old Man is set to premiere on FX Thursday, June 16. The first season will have seven episodes, and each episode will stream on Hulu the day after it airs on FX.
