Now that The Old Man season 2 has reached its end, the question becomes if/when The Old Man season 3 is going to happen. The acclaimed spy drama that stars Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow, Alia Shawkat and Amy Brenneman certainly gave every indication the story is set to continue following The Old Man season 2 ending, but has FX given the official green light?
The Old Man follows retired CIA agent Dan Chase (Bridges), who after years of living a peaceful life in hiding has his cover blown, leading him to face his past. Based on the book of the same name by Thomas Perry, the TV show has really put its own spin on the story, as evidenced in The Old Man season 2, where the world expands well beyond Perry’s original novel. But it’s proven to be a good choice, as The Old Man is an Emmy-nominated series and both seasons have been rated “Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes.
So are we getting The Old Man season 3? Here’s everything we know about that question right now. (Heads up, we’re going to be discussing some The Old Man SPOILERS, so be cautious if you are not caught up.)
What’s the status of The Old Man season 3?
As of publication, FX has not shared an official decision on whether or not The Old Man season 3 is happening. Nothing on whether it has been renewed and nothing on if they are cancelling the show after two seasons. However, there are signs of hope.
One comes directly from The Old Man star Amy Brenneman, who said while on Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast “it would be kind of odd if there wasn’t” a third season based on how season 2 ended and what she described as show creator Jonathan E. Steinberg’s vision of the show as being a “three-act play.” However, she does qualify that she did not know herself what the status of The Old Man season 3 was.
Going off the point she makes about how The Old Man season 2 ended, the final moments of The Old Man season 2 episode 8 lays out what would presumably be the crux of The Old Man season 3 plot. After killing Pavlovich, Chase and Zoe (Brenneman) go into hiding and are enjoy a quiet life together. That peace is shattered when Emily (Shawkat) finds him and arranges for them to meet. While Chase is happy to see his daughter alive, she sought him out because she needs his help to rescue Harper (Lithgow), who is being held hostage by Marion (Janet McTeer) and used as a bargaining chip to try and regain control of the valuable rare metals deposit that Emily and her Afghani family control. Specifically, she needs Chase’s help in accessing Lou Barlow, which is actually another alias for Chase, but one with which he did terrible things and doesn’t want to go back to. However, Emily is not giving him a choice, as her influence allowed her to get the FBI on her side and will force Chase to go along with her plan.
If FX does opt to move forward with The Old Man season 3, the next hope for fans would be that there won’t be a more than two year wait between episodes like there was between The Old Man season 1 and The Old Man season 2. Of course, there were outside factors that influenced that delay, most notably the writers and actors strikes in 2023 that impacted production of TV shows and movies. The other was Bridges' battle with lymphoma and then having a particularly tough bout of COVID, which he detailed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, but the star is in the clear and presumably game for another season.
Right now, fans of the show (myself included) just have to wait and see if we’re getting The Old Man season 3. We’ll update this page when an official announcement regarding the future of The Old Man is announced.
You can stream The Old Man on Hulu in the US and on Disney Plus in the UK.
