Jeff Bridges’ Dan Chase won’t be returning for a third season. FX, the network that airs the show in the U.S., has opted not to renew the small-screen thriller.
In Bridges’ first recurring television role in more than 60 years, the Oscar winner played a veteran CIA operative living off the grid who is drawn out of retirement when an old enemy from his past resurfaces looking for revenge.
First announced in 2019 — the action-packed series, which was based on the book by Thomas Perry and co-starred John Lithgow as Chase’s old handler, Harold Harper, and Alia Shawkat as Dan’s government agent daughter Emily — was shooting when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and filming was halted. Filming hit a snag again when Bridges announced he was diagnosed with lymphoma in October 2020. He says he was “at death’s door” when he contracted COVID while undergoing chemotherapy.
The first season eventually debuted in 2022 to strong ratings and critical acclaim. But the second season was delayed after last year’s strike by Hollywood writers and actors ground the industry to a halt.
Despite earning three Critics Choice TV nominations, including Best Drama Series, Best Lead Actor in Drama Series for Bridges and Best Supporting Actor for Lithgow, according to Deadline, the seven-episode sophomore season did not debut until September of this year — two years after its first season — and was not as popular with viewers.
In an interview with Postmedia earlier this year, Bridges said he signed on to play Chase because he was “fascinated by the CIA spy aspect” of the series.
“CIA, spies, they’re probably the best actors in the world. They’re acting for their lives, so I could relate to the job of playing Dan Chase in that respect,” Bridges said.
Bridges, 75, also credited the show with keeping him out of retirement.
“I keep trying to retire,” Bridges said. “I think about it all the time. My strategy in making movies is I try to resist it. I don’t want to do movies because I know what it takes. It’s not just the hard work, it’s time away from my family and all this other stuff I like to do. I spend a lot of time resisting things that I’m offered. So the things that I end up doing, like The Old Man, are things I resisted, but … it became too intriguing to resist and I get sucked into that.”
All episodes of The Old Man are available to stream now on Disney+.