Tommy Lee Jones and Betty Gilpin Join Ethan Hawke in 'The Lowdown' Season 2

Ethan Hawke returns as Tulsa "truthstorian" Lee Raybon on October 14, when "The Lowdown" launches its second season on FX and Hulu. Tommy Lee Jones and Betty Gilpin join the cast as series newcomers, FX's first trailer confirmed on Wednesday.

Jones plays Lee Raybon's estranged father. Gilpin plays a public defender who enters his orbit. The two arrive alongside familiar faces from Season 1 for what the trailer promises as another twisty saga of hidden corruption in the Great Plains.

Creator Sterlin Harjo's series became an instant critical hit when it premiered in 2025. Critics singled out Hawke's performance as a quintessential noir protagonist — a man constantly beaten and bloodied in his quest for truth while remaining, somehow, lovable.

"While he may be our bullheaded, behatted hero — sifting through seedy criminals and seedier authorities to find the cold, plain truth, no matter the cost — he's also just a guy. A writer. A citizen. A father," IndieWire's Ben Travers wrote in his Season 1 review. "How Harjo and Hawke dance between those two extremes — building the legend of Lee even as they cherish his fundamental humanity — makes their modern mystery a crackling genre story and a captivating saga unto itself. Brimming with daydreamy peculiarities yet grounded in the details of the daily grind, 'The Lowdown' is a crowd-pleaser and weirdo's delight all at once."

Harjo offered his own assessment of Hawke's work on IndieWire's Filmmaker Toolkit Podcast, where he praised the actor's willingness to take physical punishment for the role.

"You gotta get beat up, and Ethan's really good at it," Harjo said. "He's somehow managed to balance having this superstar career, basically, with also an independent career and perspective as well. He's never really lost himself, you know? It doesn't feel like you can't reach out and touch Ethan Hawke, and that's what you need in a noir. You know? They have to represent us."

The second season debuts Wednesday, October 14 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on FX and Hulu. The addition of Jones — an actor whose weathered gravitas fits the genre's demands — alongside Gilpin signals that Harjo intends to widen the world around Lee Raybon while keeping the noir engine running.