During FX Networks’ executive session at the summer TCA virtual press tour, Chairman John Landgraf detailed the company’s rollout plans through June 2022. While listing the series slated to premiere in the first half of 2022 he said, “at long last, the fantastic new drama series The Old Man starring Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow, Amy Brenneman and Alia Shawkat.”
Originally slated for a 2021 debut, the FX on Hulu series, which marks Bridges’ return to series television after five decades, has been on a production hiatus since October when the actor revealed that he has been diagnosed with lymphoma.
I hear the bulk of three episodes remain to be filmed. The hope is to resume production at the start of 2022 contingent on Bridges feeling well and getting green light from his doctors to return to work as well as the ever-evolving Covid situation. That would make the series available to launch towards the end of the six-month 2022 window listed by Landgraf.
Bridges is the star and executive producer of The Old Man, which was about two-thirds into its shoot when all production was shut down in mid-March amid the escalating coronavirus pandemic. Filming on the series had just restarted, with about three episodes left to shoot, when Bridges was diagnosed and started treatment last fall. I hear the show stayed in production a little longer to shoot scenes from the remaining episodes that do not involve Bridges’ character but there is still a significant amount of filming to be done.
“Our thoughts go out to Jeff and his family during this challenging time and they have our love and support,” 20th Television, which produces the series, said in a statement when Bridges’ diagnosis was revealed. “We wish him a safe and full recovery. And, as Jeff always says, ‘We are all in this together.’ Jeff, we are all in this together with you.”
Written by Jon Steinberg & Robert Levine, The Old Man is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Thomas Perry. It centers on Dan Chase (Bridges), the titular “old man,” who absconded from the CIA decades ago and now lives off the grid. When an assassin (Gbenga Akinnagbe) arrives and tries to take Chase out, the old operative learns that to ensure his future he now must reconcile his past.
The series co-stars John Lithgow, Amy Brenneman, Alia Shawkat, Bill Heck, Leem Lubany and EJ Bonilla. Executive producing are Bridges, Warren Littlefield, Steinberg, Dan Shotz, Levine, David Schiff and Jon Watts, who also directed the pilot.