Ethan Hawke’s Hit Series Lands 79-Year-Old Oscar Legend for Season 2
Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones, 79, is joining Season 2 of Ethan Hawke’s FX series The Lowdown, teaming with Betty Gilpin while producers keep his role under wraps.
FX is loading up season 2 of The Lowdown with a heavy hitter: Tommy Lee Jones. Yes, that Tommy Lee Jones. At 79, the Oscar winner is stepping back into scripted television, and that is a flex.
Tommy Lee Jones joins The Lowdown season 2
Jones has signed on for the new season alongside returning lead Ethan Hawke and recent addition Betty Gilpin. Producers are keeping Jones's character under wraps for now, which only makes this more intriguing. Smart pull for a show that already came in hot out of the gate.
Quick refresher on the show
The Lowdown comes from Sterlin Harjo (who steered Reservation Dogs) and follows Ethan Hawke as Lee Raybon, a self-styled Tulsa 'truthstorian' digging into muck that points back to the powerful Washberg family. The patriarch, played by Kyle MacLachlan, makes a run for governor, and the stakes spike after the suspicious suicide of Dale Washberg. Season one did not tiptoe around the mess.
- Season 1 ensemble: Keith David, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tim Blake Nelson, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Michael 'Killer Mike' Render, Kaniehtiio Horn, Tracy Letts, Peter Dinklage, and the late Graham Greene.
It also scored a nice feather: the AFI Awards named The Lowdown one of the 10 most outstanding television programs of 2025.
Renewal and production details
FX renewed the series in January. Cameras roll this spring in Tulsa, Oklahoma. FX Productions is back behind it, as expected.
Why Jones is a big get
This is Jones's return to scripted TV after more than a decade away. His last television role was the 2011 HBO film The Sunset Limited, adapted from Cormac McCarthy; he directed it and starred opposite Samuel L. Jackson. Earlier in his career, he popped up across the dial in One Life to Live, Barnaby Jones, Baretta, and Charlie's Angels. He landed an Emmy in 1983 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series with The Executioner's Song (playing Gary Gilmore), and picked up another Emmy nomination in 1989 for Lonesome Dove alongside Robert Duvall.
Recent film work includes The Burial, Finestkind, and Ad Astra. On the business side, Jones is repped by CAA, Viewpoint, and Jacobson Russell Saltz.
No word yet on how Jones's character threads into the Raybon vs. Washberg saga, but adding him to Hawke and Gilpin suggests season 2 plans to swing harder. I am not complaining.