Famed director Jon Watts has been tapped to direct FX’s upcoming pilot order for The Old Man, which will be written by Jon Steinberg and Robert Levine— Warren Littlefield, Steinberg, Dan Shotz, Levine, Jeff Bridges, David Schiff and Jon Watts will all executive produce the series. Fox 21 Television Studios will also produce in partnership with The Littlefield Company.
The pilot of the FX drama is set to follow Lithgow alongside other star, Jeff Bridges, as production commences this fall. Based on the bestselling Thomas Perry novel of the same name, The Old Man focuses on Bridges’ Dan Chase “who absconded from the CIA decades ago and has been living off the grid since. When an assassin arrives and tries to take Chase out, the old operative learns that to ensure his future he now must reconcile his past.”
Meanwhile, Lithgow is set to play Harold Harper who is considered “intelligent and tough with deep reservoirs of compassion and ruthlessness.” After being brought out of retirement by the FBI, Harper has to comes to term with his complicated past with Bridges’ rouge fugitive Chase. Although tasked with hunting him down, Harper also struggles with the aftermath of a recent personal loss in his family.
Audiences may best know Lithgow for his large swath of film, television and theater work throughout the years garnering him appearances in works such as: The World According to Garp and Terms of Endearment. His recent filmography also includes: Love is Strange, Interstellar, The Accountant, Miss Sloane, Beatriz at Dinner, Daddy’s Home 2, Late Night, The Tomorrow Man, Pet Sematary and the upcoming Bombshell.
Winning a total of six Emmys, two Golden Globes, three SAG Awards, one Critics’ Choice Award and an American Comedy Award, his most notable work on television is as the character Dr. Dick Solomon on NBC’s 3rd Rock from the Sun, the Trinity Killer in Showtime’s Dexter and Sir Winston Churchill in the Netflix’s The Crown. Lithgow has also made appearances in a wide variety of Broadway productions throughout his career as well and was inducted in the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2015.
Watts is best know for his work on the critical darling, Spider-Man: Homecoming and its successor, Spider-Man: Far From Home— both starring industry favorites: Tom Holland and Zendaya. The director also wrote and directed Focus Feature’s independent feature, Cop Car, which premiered at Sundance in 2015 and featured Kevin Bacon as the lead. So far, FX has released no word on the when The Old Man is set to premiere.