It has been a little while since we have seen Jeff Bridges kick some butt on screen, which is why it is exciting to see him play the lead role on The Old Man. The new thriller, developed by Robert Levine and Jonathan E. Steinberg from a novel by Thomas Perry, follows a retired CIA agent living in seclusion until he finds that there are people on his trail with murderous intent.
The drama premieres on FX Thursday, June 16, 2022 at 10 p.m./9 p.m. ET, and Bridges is joined by an exciting ensemble of wonderful actors on The Old Man cast. But, we shall begin with the Academy Award winning lead in our following breakdown of who plays whom in the action-packed new show.
Jeff Bridges (Dan Chase)
Dan Chase (the titular “Old Man”) is executive producer Jeff Bridges’ first major role following his battle with lymphoma - a diagnosis that shocked millions in 2020. It is also his latest gruff hero character, following his Oscar-nominated performances in 2010’s True Grit and 2016’s Hell or High Water. The actor and musician is also known for the TRON movies, as the title role of The Giver, and The Dude in the 1998 cult classic stoner comedy The Big Lebowski.
The Iron Man star (who played the first MCU villain in said 2008 blockbuster) actually has seven Oscar nominations - also including ones for 1971’s The Last Picture Show, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot from 1974, John Carpenter’s Starman, and the political drama The Contender - and a win for 2009’s Crazy Heart. Bridges got his start acting alongside his father, Lloyd Bridges, on TV shows Sea Hunt and The Lloyd Bridges Show before becoming one of Hollywood’s most beloved leading men.
John Lithgow (Harold Harper)
Playing retired FBI agent Harold Harper is John Lithgow - another beloved leading man with two Academy Award nominations under his belt (for The World According to Garp and Terms of Endearment). He has, however, won several Emmy Awards - including one for the original Amazing Stories in the 1980s, three for 3rd Rock from the Sun, one as the Trinity Killer from the Dexter cast, and one as Winston Churchill on Netflix’s The Crown.
Some of Lithgow’s most notable antagonistic roles include Eric Qualen in 1993’s Cliffhanger, Lord John Whorfin in the multiverse-spanning cult favorite The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension in 1984, Lord Farquaad in the Shrek movies, and Roger Ailes in 2019’s Bombshell. Also in 2019, he played Judd in Pet Semetary, joined the cast of HBO’s Perry Mason the following year, and briefly appeared as a part of Showtime’s Dexter: New Blood cast in 2021.
Amy Brenneman (Zoe McDonald)
As Zoe McDonald, a recent divorcée who rents out a room to Chase, we have Amy Brenneman - whose previous action genre credits include Michael Mann’s Heat, Daylight with Sylvester Stallone, and her two-time Emmy-nominated performance on NYPD Blue in the 1990s. She made her film debut in Bye Bye Love in 1995, played the ghost of Christina Ricci’s mother in Casper the same year, and Reese Witherspoon’s mother in Fear in 1996.
Her best known roles are mostly on television, such as the title character of the legal drama, Judging Amy (for which she received three other Emmy nominations), Dr. Violet Turner on the Grey’s Anatomy spin-off Private Practice, and her mostly silent performance with The Leftovers cast on HBO. She also had a recurring role on Season 3 of Amazon Prime’s Goliath, led another Amazon original series in 2021 opposite Lily Rabe called Tell Me Your Secrets, and also starred on the AppleTV+ mystery series, Shining Girls, this year.
Alia Shawkat (Angela Adams)
As a woman hunting Chase named Angela Adams, we have Alia Shawkat - an Arrested Development cast veteran who hunted a missing friend on the dark comedy series Search Party. Her darkest credit to date, however, is likely Jeremy Saulnier’s A24 horror movie, Green Book.
Shawkat made her feature film debut in 1999’s Three Kings, first led her own series at 12 with State of Grace on Freeform (when it was still called ABC Family), and went on to gain a reputation as a versatile talent with movies like Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, Whip It, or series like Transparent on Amazon Prime and Big Mouth on Netflix. She most recently starred in the Being the Ricardos cast as I Love Lucy writer Madelyn Pugh.
E.J. Bonilla (Raymond Waters)
As another CIA agent hunting Chase named Raymond Waters, we have E.J. Bonilla, whose breakout gig was on daytime soap opera Guiding Light in his late teens before playing the male lead of the coming-of-age romance, Don’t Let Me Drown (his feature-film debut), in 2009. What followed was several notable guest spots and recurring roles on hit seres like Blue Bloods, Revenge, Unforgettable, and Bull, to name just a few.
He starred in the award-winning gay romance Four in 2012, played the title role of 2013’s The House That Jack Built (not to be confused with Lars von Trier’s controversial thriller from 2018), and played a soldier in National Geographic’s 2017 miniseries, The Long Road Home. Bonilla had a big year in 2019, appearing in the Will Smith-led sci-fi flick Gemini Man, the star-studded crime thriller The Kitchen, and making his directorial debut with the short comedy film, STFU.
Gbenga Akinnagbe (Julian Carson)
Special ops contractor Julian Carson (another person tracking Chase) is played by Gbenga Akinnagbe, who made his debut in HBO’s The Wire cast as “Officer in Courtroom” before being given a recurring role as Chris Partlow in 2004 and, later, starring on the short-lived series adaptation of Barbershop. His feature film debut was the 2007 Oscar-nominated dramedy, The Savages, which he followed with the 2009 remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, the Mel Gibson-led thriller Edge of Darkness, and the comedy, Lottery Ticket, in 2010.
Akinnagbe has made notable recurring TV appearances on Showtime’s Nurse Jackie, FX’s Damages, USA’s Graceland, and CBS’ The Good Wife, to name a few. He also played a Secret Service agent in Independence Day: Resurgence, Aubrey Pollard, Sr. in Detroit, Mook in Hulu’s Wu-Tang: An American Saga, and he also co-directed and starred in DC Noir in 2019.
Bill Heck (Young Dan Chase)
Playing Chase before he became The Old Man is Bill Heck, who last played a TV character’s younger self when he guest-starred on Ray Donovan as Jon Voight’s character, Mickey Donovan, in a flashback and again on Ray Donovan: The Movie in 2022. Heck started out making guest appearances on shows like Numb3rs and NCIS before making his feature film debut with Nonames in 2010, and landed a starring role on NBC’s short-lived Taxi Brooklyn in 2014.
After making his superhero movies debut with 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as an unnamed pilot, he voiced X-Men character Gambit on an audio drama called Wolverine: The Long Night in 2019. Heck’s other best-known movies include the Coen Brothers’ Netflix original western The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Amazon Prime’s I’m Your Woman, and he also played major roles on Netflix’s Locke & Key and Amazon’s series adaptation of I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Will any of these supporting characters in The Old Man cast be able to catch Jeff Bridges’ Dan Chase? Find out by catching the series premiere on FX or streaming the next day on Hulu.
