veteran actor Jeff Bridges can be seen these days starring in the FX series The old man which garnered a second season renewal after Season 1 was a hit. Where exactly he will appear next is not entirely clear to the actor at the moment, but he does not see retirement on the horizon. Maybe it’s because he’s having a good time with The old man after realizing that his career was over not so long ago.
In October 2020, Bridges publicly announced that he had been diagnosed with lymphoma and would undergo chemotherapy. By September 2021, he had made remarkable progress with his battle, announcing that his cancer was in remission. The old man marks Bridges’ return to acting after his fight, and in a new interview with Varietythe actor explains why he doesn’t see himself retiring any time soon, even if he plays a retired CIA agent in the series.
“I thought after my illness I didn’t know if I would go back to work. I thought I was going to retire, very seriously. And I don’t know. You know, my father worked to the end. I know it’s not, I’ll leave that to the way it works. I’m not sure.”
Bridges also talked about landing the lead in The old man. Bridges admitted he was hesitant to venture into the small screen, but he said he signed up after noticing the quality of other television shows over the years, and it’s a decision he’s very happy with now.
“I was initially opposed to television. My father, Lloyd Bridges, had done several TV shows and I saw how he was a little frustrated with how quickly the shows were shot, and how they couldn’t pay as much attention to details and so move forward. But then I started looking at all this great content that comes out of the tube these days and I thought, ‘This is something to discover’ and I’m glad I did because I wasn’t disappointed. There really weren’t any differences in the making of the show than there were movies.”
The Old Man is coming to a second season
Created by Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert Levine, The old man debuted on FX in June. In addition to Bridges, the series stars John Lithgow, EJ Bonilla, Bill Heck, Leem Lubany, Alia Shawkat, Gbenga Akinnagbe and Amy Brenneman. The series follows Bridges as a former CIA agent whose quiet life is interrupted when she is targeted by hitmen, forcing him to retire and use his old skills. Bridges also spoke about what appealed to him about the character he plays in the series.
“Well, I played a former CIA agent and these guys are probably the best actors in the world. They act for their lives. So I said, ‘Oh, that’s something we have in common.’ And we were lucky enough to have Christopher Huddleston who was a CIA agent [advising the show.] He could really teach me all the ins and outs of that. And as interesting as the story was, it really was the writing, you know, John Steinberg and Warren Littlefield, I was a fan of different things they had done. And the kind of cast they were talking about, it was a package that all started to come together.”
The old man was renewed for a second season early in the first season’s run on FX. Season 2 doesn’t have a premiere date yet.