The Old Man Cast & Character Guide

The cast of The Old Man has ensured the legendary FX thriller kept viewers hooked despite a gap of several years between season 1 and season 2, with leads Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow joined by a full ensemble of incredibly talented names. Created for television by Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert Levine, The Old Man is based on the novel by Thomas Perry. The show focuses former CIA operative Dan Chase (Bridges), who is living in hiding when he is suddenly thrust back into the spy game and on the run after an assassination attempt.

Joining Bridges is veteran actor John Lithgow, as well as actress Amy Brenneman, Alia Shawkat, E.J. Bonilla, and Gbenga Akinnagbe. Creators Levine and Steinberg are best known for their previous TV work on shows like Black Sails, See, and Human Target. Additional cast for The Old Man include actors playing younger versions of key characters, including Bill Heck, Noor Razooky, Pej Vahdat, Leem Lubany, and Christopher Redman. The Old Man cast has done a beyond-successful job of bringing Perry’s novel to life, and there are plenty of other projects fans of the FX thriller can also see them in.

Jeff Bridges as Dan Chase

Date Of Birth: December 4, 1949

Actor: Academy Award-winner Jeff Bridges leads the cast of The Old Man as Dan Chase, and he’s impeccable in the role (which also comes quite later in his decades-long career). Bridges is known for his work in films like Jagged Edge, Tron, Tron: Legacy, The Big Lebowski, Seabiscuit, Iron Man, and Crazy Heart, which netted him a Best Actor win in 2010. The Old Man is Bridges’ first project since 2018’s Bad Times At The El Royale after surviving a battle with lymphoma.

Character: Jeff Bridges plays the lead character Dan Chase in The Old Man, a former CIA operative who absconded from the agency and has been living in hiding ever since. Chase has turned his back on his life as an intelligence operative and has spent the three decades prior to the show living off-grid in Vermont. An assassination attempt puts him on the run and makes him face the past he’s been trying to escape.

John Lithgow as Harold Harper

Date Of Birth: October 19, 1945

Actor: While Jeff Bridges may be the most widely-known cast member in The Old Man, co-star John Lithgow can boast an equally storied career. John Lithgow is a multi-award-winning actor known for his work across film and television for decades, including the hit TV show 3rd Rock From The Sun, as The Trinity Killer in Showtime’s Dexter, Netflix’s The Crown, and HBO’s Perry Mason. He has starred in numerous high-profile films throughout his career, including Twilight Zone: The Movie, Footloose, Cliffhanger, The Accountant, Interstellar, Pet Semetary, and as the voice of Lord Farquaad in Shrek. He won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for both 1982’s The World According to Garp and 1983’s Terms of Endearment.

Character: John Lithgow plays Harold Harper in The Old Man, the FBI’s Assistant Director for Counterintelligence, who is assigned to track down Dan Chase due to his unique connection to his target’s past. It’s Lithgow’s Harper who pulls Chase back into the life he’s spent 30 years trying to run away from, as the pair worked together in Afghanistan during the Cold War, and the consequences of the decisions they made then are finally catching up.

Amy Brenneman as Zoe McDonald

Date Of Birth: June 22, 1964

Actor: Amy Brenneman joining the cast of The Old Man as Zoe was a solid addition for the FX thriller, as the actor brings a wealth of experience, both on the big and small screens. Brenneman is known for her early work on the ’90s hit show NYPD Blue, as well as supporting role in Michael Mann’s 1995 thriller Heat. She would later become most-recognized for her work on shows like Judging Amy, Private Practice, and HBO’s The Leftovers.

Role: Amy Brenneman plays Zoe McDonald in The Old Man, a woman who rents a room to Bridges’ character and becomes an ally when she discovers the truth about him. She’s one of the more intriguing characters in The Old Man, as she’s been drawn into the world of CIA operatives, secrecy, and danger that Dan knows all-too-well, yet has no experience of it herself. This makes her both unpredictable and someone audiences are almost-assuredly always rooting for.

Alia Shawkat as Angela Adams/Emily Chase

Date Of Birth: April 18, 1989

Actor: A native of Riverside, California, Alia Shawkat joined the cast of The Old Man after several decades of experience in movies and TV shows alike. Her career started in 1999, and The Old Man marks a turning point in her career from her earlier roles in sitcoms and comedies. Shawkat is best known for her work on the comedy TV series Arrested Development and the Amazon series Transparent. She most recently starred in the HBO series Search Party.

Role: Alia Shawkat plays F.B.I. agent Angela Adams in The Old Man cast, the protégé of Lithgow’s Harold Harper who assists in the hunt for Bridges’ Dan Chase. As the show progresses, Angela/Emily soon parts ways with the F.B.I, and the truths she learns thanks to her time working with Harold and hunting down Chase throws her into an existential crisis that has her questioning everything she thinks she knows — including about herself and her past.

E.J. Bonilla as Raymond Waters

Date Of Birth: September 8, 1988

Actor:The Old Man cast member E.J. Bonilla has appeared in numerous film and TV projects prior to joining the likes of Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow in the FX thriller. His career began in 2006, and has included shows like Revenge, Unforgettable, The Long Road Home, and Bull. On the big screen, he appeared in Will Smith’s sci-fi movie Gemini Man, and also played Father Maddox in 2023’s The Exorcist: Believer.

Role: E.J. Bonilla plays CIA Special Agent Raymond Waters in The Old Man, who works alongside Lithgow’s Harper and Shawkat’s Adams to track down Bridges’ character. Waters didn’t return for The Old Man season 2, though he was a pivotal figure in the first chapter of the story. Ray is an incredibly nosy character who leaves no stone unturned, which is what drew Bonilla to the character (via Awards Daily):

In my mind, Raymond is what they also describe Dan Chase to be, which is the true believer.

Gbenga Akinnagbe as Julian Carson

Date Of Birth: December 12, 1978

Actor: Growing up in Washington D.C., Nigerian-American actor and writer Gbenga Akinnagbe joins the cast of The Old Man folliwng several decades of experience in a number of TV dramas and thrillers, as well as several movies. Akinnagbe has a long list of credits to his name, including shows like Barbershop, HBO’s The Wire, Nurse Jackie, Damages, 24, and The Deuce. His film credits include The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Independence Day: Resurgence, and Detroit.

Role: Gbenga Akinnagbe plays Julian Carson in The Old Man, a highly trained special ops contractor sent to aid in capturing Dan Chase when his apprehension proves to be more difficult than expected. Like many other characters in the show, Carson soon finds that being drawn into Chase and Harold’s web of consequences causes him to question almost everything he thought he knew.

The Old Man Supporting Cast & Characters

The Old Man Has A Wide Ensemble Cast

Bill Heck as Young Dan Chase – The past younger version of Chase. Bill Heck is known for playing Billy Knapp in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, as well as Rendell Locke in Locke & Key and Bruce in I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Leem Lubany as Young Abbey Chase – The past younger version of Chase’s deceased wife. Lubany is known for playing Gabrielle Joubert in Condor and Sawsan al-Khafaji in Baghdad Central.

Navid Negahban as Hamzad – An Afghan warlord who once joined forces with Chase in the past. Negaban is best known for playing the Sultan in 2019’s Aladdin, Amahl Farouk in Legion, and voicing Sala/The Collector in Netflix’s Castlevania series.

Pej Vahdat as Young Hamzad – The past younger version of Hamzad. Prior to The Old Man, Vahdat is known for playing Arastoo Vaziri in Bones, Sam Armand in Arrow, Kelly Patel in Empire, and Dex Dexter in the reboot of Dynasty.