Tommy Lee Jones returned to the red carpet for The Lowdown, joining Ethan Hawke as FX prepared to launch the drama’s second season.
The 80-year-old Oscar winner takes on a substantial television role in the series after a career spent largely making movies.
Created by Reservation Dogs co-creator Sterlin Harjo, the Tulsa-set show stars Hawke as Lee Raybon, a rare-bookseller who calls himself a “truthstorian.”
Jones joins the cast alongside Betty Gilpin. Keith David and Kaniehtiio Horn return, with Hawke also serving as an executive producer.
Jones Kept It Casual at the Austin Premiere
Jones attended the Oct. 7 screening at AFS Cinema in Austin. He posed alone before joining Hawke and Ryan Kiera Armstrong for photographs. Harjo and Killer Mike also attended the event, according to Entertainment Weekly.
The appearance came nearly three years after Jones walked the carpet for Finestkind in December 2023, PEOPLE reported. That year also brought his performance opposite Jamie Foxx in The Burial.
He Plays the Father Lee Told His Daughter Was Dead
Jones plays Lee Raybon Senior, known as Frog, the estranged grifter father of Hawke’s Lee Raybon. His unexpected arrival creates a problem for Lee, who has told his teenage daughter Francis that her grandfather is dead.
Francis, played by Armstrong, welcomes the opportunity to get to know Frog, while Lee resists a reconciliation. Their efforts to coexist also expose uncomfortable similarities between father and son, according to Disney+.
Lee’s investigations leave Francis wanting more time with him. Her mother, Samantha, is now married to Johnny, a dentist trained in jujitsu.
Hawke and Harjo Wanted a Father Lee Could Not Dismiss
Hawke said he and Harjo began casting the role by imagining someone formidable enough to unsettle Lee. “Tommy Lee popped up in our mind, and then we couldn’t get him out,” he told TV Insider in September. Jones was already a fan of both The Lowdown and Reservation Dogs, Hawke said, which helped the casting come together quickly.
Hawke said he had admired Jones throughout his life, pointing to performances in Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Fugitive and No Country for Old Men. He described sharing numerous scenes with him as a privilege.
Jones’ earlier television work included Dr. Mark Toland on One Life to Live. He won a 1983 Emmy for The Executioner’s Song and earned another nomination in 1989 for playing Woodrow Call in Lonesome Dove, according to the Television Academy.
A Missing Prisoner Draws Lee Into His Next Case
Season 2 begins with Lee receiving a local journalism award for his reporting on Dale Washberg’s death. His acceptance speech goes badly but catches the attention of Gilpin’s Ginger, a public defender, according to ABC.
One of Ginger’s clients has disappeared from a state penitentiary. Lee joins her search and reluctantly recruits Johnny, played by Rafael Casal, to help investigate corruption among wealthy and powerful people.
David’s Marty has become managing editor of the Heartland Press. The returning ensemble also includes Michael Hitchcock, Macon Blair, Siena East, Cody Lightning and Jude Barnett. The eight-episode season of The Lowdown premieres Oct. 14 with its first two episodes on FX and Hulu.