Interview by Jeff Bridges and Alia Shawkat

Warning: The following story contains spoilers from The Old Man Season 2 Episode 8.

FX’s second season “Old” may have ended in a truly stunning coup, but it was a “long time coming” for series creator and executive producer Jonathan E. Steinberg.

Season 2 revolved around rescuing Angela/Emily (Alia Shawkat), a goal that required Chase (Jeff Bridges) to team up with his former partner-turned-rival Harper (John Lithgow) to save the woman they both see as their daughter. This trip forced them to put aside their differences and go to Afghanistan. But as Angela/Emily spent more time in the country, she learned that her real father was actually Faraz Hamzad (Naveed Neghaban). In the process, she embraced her new identity and discovered her heritage, becoming Parvana Hamzad.

The season ended in complete defeat. To ensure Parvana’s safe return to America, Harper teams up with his ex-wife, former British agent Marion (Janet McTeer). But in the process he disappeared. In the final moments of “XV,” Parvana makes it clear to Chase that he will help her do whatever it takes to get Harper back. Just as Season 1 ended with Chase reluctantly teaming up with Harper, Season 2 ends with him reluctantly teaming up with Parvana.

“From the beginning of the story, a big part of this story was about raising a grown kid, being a grown kid, and dealing with aging parents,” Steinberg told TheWrap. The showrunner noted that this dynamic exchange between Chase and Parvana is like “realizing that your child has real authority and agency, and they no longer have to listen to you.”

“This is obviously the biggest version we can imagine,” he continued. “It felt like an interesting place to take the story and an interesting place to take the relationship between Jeff and Aaliyah’s characters.”

The scene between Bridges, Shawkat and Amy Brenneman as Zoe MacDonald was filmed over two days. “It took a long time because they did so many special shots. Even though it seems like such a simple scene, there are a lot of angles to give it such dramatic effect,” Shawkat told TheWrap.

Shooting the scene over several days allowed the actors to experiment more with this key scene. However, both Bridges and Shawkat emphasized that the emotional weight of the moment is embedded in the script itself.

“I am a photographer. When you take a picture, sometimes you place the exposure,” Bridges explained, referring to the process of taking the same photo multiple times. “I also like to do that with my acting. Actors draw their pictures, and then the editor and director cut these pictures and make a collage out of them. Here it is a common art form. So I want to give my mates as much choice as possible about what’s going to work when they start putting it together.”

Bridgey is a big fan of trying to take different approaches. “It can give you good surprises for yourself and for everyone else,” he shared.

“It starts with them reuniting in this beautiful scene—they see each other after he thought she was dead. Then, towards the end, she really put him in a position where his hands are tied, and he gets on the plane no matter what,” Shokat explained. “It’s a great scene that spans the entire show from season one. In a way, it’s saying what you thought you knew was true, it’s not true, and now you’re going to have to pay for it.”

To play out Parvana’s discovery of her own identity, Shokat delved into the atmosphere of the series as well as her own relationship with her racial identity.

“I am of mixed race. I haven’t been to Baghdad, where my father is from, unfortunately, but whenever I’m around other people from there or any other Arabs, it’s a feeling where you say, “I’m one of you, but I” I neither,” she said, noting that there were times when she didn’t feel “ethnic enough” or “white enough.” “I don’t feel like I fit in completely.”

“I was leaning towards it in an extreme way. She wants to be part of these people. She knows she’s like them — they’re the same — but she’s had a completely different life, so she doesn’t feel the same way,” Shokat added. “It’s about identity, wondering who you really are and feeling lost.”

The actor kept in mind Parvana’s inner turmoil as she approached the final episode. “She’s falling apart this season, and what’s left after that? I played it as much as I could,” Shaukat said. “By the time you get to the lunch scene, I wanted it to be like she’s been through so much and has nothing to hide anymore. She’s just looking at (Chase) and says, ‘You’re going to get on this plane.’

As for Chase’s claims that he’s seen and done things that are “uglier than death,” Bridges told TheWrap that he spoke with Steinberg about what that might mean. “I don’t know exactly where it’s going. However, I have a guess, he said.

Steinberg also noted that the team behind “The Old Man” is currently building the Season 3 story around “the answer to that question.” “It’s not as simple as killing the bad guys anymore. It’s much more complicated,” Steinberg teased.

As for the upcoming FX thriller, it remains unclear. Still, both Shawkat and Bridges hope there will be another season. “I signed up for three, and I like working with people and I’m excited about where the story is going, so I just play it by ear. I have not yet thought about such a distant future,” said Bridges.

“Even though the story is already covered, the relationship between Jeff and Aaliyah’s characters has only just begun. In the third season, I would be happy to see them have to occupy an equal place in the plot and deal with each other. They can’t use the phone as a buffer,” Steinberg said. “We all feel very strongly about the story we’re telling and the team we’ve built.”