‘Old Man’ Finale: Producers Address Mysterious Morgan and Whether Zoe (And Those Dogs) Will Return

SPOILER ALERT: This story details the FX On Hulu season 1 finale. Old man.

FX on Hulu spy drama Old man The first season, starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow, concluded on July 21 with some burning questions answered, such as why Faraz Hamzad is so gorgeous with Dan Chase (Bridges) and his daughter Angela (Alia Shawkat). look seriously He someone comes

Here, executive producers Jon Steinberg and Dan Schott discuss key revelations and questions surrounding Morgan Bott (Joel Gray).

A lot of information was revealed in the last episode. Talk about the threads of this needle and decide when and why it will turn out so much.

John Steinberg: It was quite difficult. At first we were shooting 10 episodes. That was the plan as we entered our first COVID lockdown. What came out was out there somewhere, but presented a little differently. Then after Jeff’s initial illness with lymphoma and when things got really crazy with COVID, we had to call him about what we asked him and when he would get back to us. Then we looked again. We already thought that this explanation started at this point. What if it all felt like a big time? Trying to figure out how to turn the final three episodes of the season into the finale was one of the hardest creative exercises during the show’s run.

Dan Schott Although it was a great long fight and Jeff was sure he was okay, it let the story boil. Time is sometimes a blessing. We had to spend a lot of time looking at it and figuring out these manifestations and where they wanted to go.

DEADLINE Can you talk about doing that scene in the car with Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow? What an amazing moment.

Steinberg Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow look at you and say, “What do you want us to say?” when he said. Fun, but a little scary. But then he got excited. similar Let’s write a game for these two guys who can read each other’s phone books. How exciting can you make these two men stare at each other while they barely stare at each other for most of the conversation? It was very special to see them. This was the first video they shot when Jeff came back from COVID. [he contracted it while receiving treatment for cancer] It was the car scene with John.

shot They haven’t worked together yet, as they had their own stories before Jeff’s diagnosis. So getting in the car together was one of the first things we shot. They didn’t spend a lot of time together, but there was an instant romance between these two men who were so happy to be together, happy to be working after incredible careers. It was a truly magical moment to see them connect, as friends like Dan Chase and Harold Harper did 30 years ago.

DEADLINE Danny is the older Jason Bourne we didn’t know we wanted.

Dan Schott After Jeff went through treatment and came back to us, on the first day of filming, he was leaning out of the window at 60 miles an hour and shooting a gun. [for the finale]. So we were really surprised at what he was able to do when he came back, and it felt good to do it.

Was it difficult to decide when and where to announce on the deadline that Dan was really going to Johnny?

Steinberg Yes, in the sense that there are always some puzzles to be solved when trying to tell a story with the same people in two different timelines. I guess it was a bit strange to find out at first, wait, whatT Your name? And I think we thought you’d get it. What they are called in any given scene is very unimportant to him.

Deadline One of the plots on which the story in Thomas Perry’s novel is based is how Dan is accused of stealing money. Is this something you’ll touch more on in season two?

Steinberg I don’t think. There were things in the book that we all loved, enjoyed, and inspired, and there were things that took us in a slightly different direction than Thomas took in the book. If the show was going to be longer and we were going to spend time on these flashbacks, we wanted it to be more than money, it’s a story you can get emotionally involved with every time you cut. It was an early choice to tell a truly different story in the past.

BUT is Morgan really an old man?

Steinberg It’s not an escape, but I’ve always thought of the old man as a concept. Everyone has one and it’s relative. He They Old man. There is an old one too.

Wada Talk about title cards that look like cross-stitch pictures you’ll see at Grandma’s house.

Steinberg These are paintings by a very famous artist named Hana Shahnawav. He is an English Persian. We made a great animated title sequence and just wanted to do something different. The pilot is so sober. It really feels like this little pruned bonsai and I felt like I wanted something quiet. That’s what started the conversation. What is something that is both interesting and beautiful and tells a story, yet extremely minimal? So we had an idea for this little story on the panels. What kind of micro-story do you tell along with the main story arc?

DEADLINE Danny’s past has a lot to unravel. Will we learn more about what he did in Afghanistan?

Steinberg I think it’s all fair game. It’s like a trip to Dan Chase’s head. Some of the plans for season two are for these guys to go back to where they spent a lot of time when they were young and see the past through the eyes of the present.

shot We had so much fun 30 years ago with the machinations of the CIA and the FBI and everything. But at its core, it’s a family story. It’s all about all these parents connected with this main figure.

LAST DATE Looking to the future, will Angela find out very quickly who her real father is?

Steinberg As a general rule, we never want a character to lag too far behind the audience. So it comes pretty fast for him.

TERM Will Zoe, played by Amy Brenneman, return?

shot Zoe will definitely be back. He’s an important part of this story, an important link to Danny. And Amy is a great actress and partner in this business. We’re so excited for Zoe’s story.

Frankly, the deadline is still a lot of questions revolving around Morgan. What questions still remain unanswered?

Steinberg What is your honorary status in the CIA? Where does its power come from? How is it projected? I think the most interesting questions are about that weird little family. He and his two carriers, their adopted children. What was the nature of this relationship when you first met them? It is clear that everyone agrees. What It Was Like This is the story I’m most excited to discover more of.

DO WE ALSO SEE LAST DATE DOGS?

shot Yeah. I do not know Old man There’s a show without a dog.

Old man It has already been renewed for a second season. Warren Littlefield, Steinberg, Schott, Robert Levine, Bridges, David Schiff and Jon Watts are executive producers. It is produced by 20th Television in association with The Littlefield Company.