It’s been two years since the first season of the popular spy series “The Old Man.” Jeff Bridges stars as Dan Chase and executive produces this story about a former CIA agent and the FBI Assistant Director Harold Harper, played by John Lithgow. Both men recently spoke to a select group of the media to discuss the show, which this season takes them on a perilous and different direction as they search for kidnapped Emily Chase, who has three men believing she is their daughter. Who is this woman?

Bridges is a veteran of major motion pictures. While his father Lloyd Bridges and his brother Beau Bridges both have film and TV shows in their resumes, this is the first time for Jeff. When he was asked how he prepared for this ongoing role that could last years, whereas film roles are finite, he responded, “Yeah, this is a first for me. You know, making a movie, you get a beginning, middle and an end. But in a show like this, I don’t know what’s going to happen, just like you guys. You know, it’s an open-ended thing. And as far as preparation goes, I start with, you know, myself, aspects of myself that kind of parallel the character. But also, it’s wonderful to have a CIA consultant like Christopher Huddleston that was a former CIA operative. So, to have him on board, that really was very helpful.”

Both actors talked at length about growing old(er). “I’ve sort of entered into my old man chapter and it’s been very exciting,” Lithgow said. “Actually, this is kind of the rosiest time in my career because I’m finally old enough to play all these old roles, and they’re great roles.”

Lithgow explained about the show, “He’s a man who lives with terrible demons. The whole story is about old men; it’s a very unusual series featuring two old men. The only other paradigm I can think of is ‘Grumpy Old Men’ and that’s not us. But it’s old men whose lives are haunted by demons, by old memories, old regrets, things they wished they’d done wrong — or done differently — and things they know they did wrong.”

It’s evident watching and listening to the two men that they admire, respect and really like each other. As they acknowledged, they have similar backgrounds. Both of their fathers were actors so they grew up in and around the industry.

“We both really like to get to know each other since we’re playing old friends in the show,” Bridges said. And Lithgow chimed in, “Yeah, it’s remarkable how quickly we’ve become old friends in both senses of the word. It is true, we’re both second-generation actors — the great Lloyd Bridges and my dad, Arthur Lithgow, who produced classical regional theater, mostly Shakespeare. Those are two very different disciplines, and I think Jeff and I work the same way, but we’re very different actors. … But it seems to me like that’s part of what’s so interesting about putting us together.”

Lithgow also explained that the characters they play in the show “are constantly in conflict with each other. And so it’s very exciting when they collaborate and cooperate with each other.”

Fans of Bridges know he went through a difficult medical drama. Speaking about that and his recovery seems to be cathartic for him. “I’m feeling great now and I’m coming back for more punishment,” he said with a big grin. “What is so bizarre, to me anyway, in the first season when I was doing these fight scenes, I had a 9-inch-by-12-inch tumor in my body, in my stomach, that didn’t hurt at all. So that’s surprising to me, but I’m feeling great now.”

Lithgow was quick to explain, “Some of the greatest scenes in ‘The Old Man’ are Jeff’s fight scenes, and an old man having to summon up the strength and skill he had 50 years ago. I urge you all, if you haven’t already done so, find ‘Bad Company,’ a movie from the ’70s with Jeff Bridges as a raw-boned young punk. Jeff’s fight scene in that film, you’ve got to see that in order to deeply appreciate what he’s doing now.”

Season Two of “The Old Man” premieres Sept. 12 on FX. It also streams on Hulu.

Newsletter