In "The Old Man," John Lithgow says he found one of the great challenges of a long, storied career

Days before I sat down for my conversation with John Lithgow, and purely by coincidence, I watched “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension” for the first time in decades. The movie passed its 40th anniversary in August and is mainly noteworthy for the number of superb actors you may have forgotten were in it – Lithgow included.

Mentioning this to the co-star of “The Old Man” made him break into a radiant smile. He hadn’t thought about that title for a long time either, he admitted. “It was hilarious. We didn’t know what we were doing,” he said.

It was also part of what he called “a little cluster of films” that made Lithgow one of Hollywood’s most familiar character actors. That period began in 1982, when he played a transgender woman in “The World According to Garp,” followed by a role in 1983’s “Terms of Endearment” as a temptation for Debra Winger’s frustrated housewife.

Then came his small-town pastor who imposes a ban on dancing in 1984’s “Footloose,” the same year that “Buckaroo Banzai” hit theaters. “All within two years, it was like this,” he marveled, “Suddenly, this New York theater actor became a movie actor. Boom.”

That level of versatility has enabled Lithgow to avoid being typecast over a decades-long career that’s included many comedy roles, among the biggest being the lead in NBC’s “3rd Rock from the Sun,” along with bringing Winston Churchill to life for “The Crown” and playing Dexter Morgan’s deadliest nemesis on “Dexter.”

That barely scratches the extent of his television and movie filmography or his many theatrical roles. At 78, Lithgow is an Oscar win away from an EGOT designation.

Even so, Lithgow said “The Old Man” challenges him in an entirely new way – although that wasn’t what initially moved him to sign on to the show. “When it first came up as a possibility, one of the huge elements was Jeff Bridges,” he admitted. “I've always thought he was a wonderful actor. I knew he was a wonderful person. That was a big part of it.”

Little did I know I would barely act with him for the first two years of this job,” he added, “but when I finally did, I was absolutely right. It was glorious.”

Although the title refers to Bridges’ ex-CIA operative Dan Chase, who quietly comes out of retirement when his adopted daughter Emily (Alia Shawkat) falls into the hands of Farad Hamzad (Navid Negahban), the Afghan warlord from whom he’d been hiding her, FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence, Harold Harper (John Lithgow), also lays claim to that identifier in Season 2.

Harper knew Emily as his right-hand Angela Adams, who he cares for as if she were his daughter, making this season as much a story about who she is as it is about the lengths to which fathers might go for their children.

“I just find this to be an extremely unusual story. I can't even think of anything to compare it to except for ‘Grumpy Old Men,’ and that's a total farce with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau: old guys dealing with stuff that they're just no longer prepared to do,” Lithgow said.

That also meant Lithgow joined Bridges in taking on a performance that’s more physically rough and tumble than most actors in their 70s take on. “The part has been a huge challenge, but challenge is what you look for.”

Bridges may be saddled with more hand-to-hand fight choreography, but Lithgow says the emotional anguish Harold carries with him into the wilderness offers another version of stage combat. In part that’s due to Emily/Angela’s decision to embrace the identity she was born with, Parwana Hamzad. To the United States and Dan, her father may be an enemy. But to Shawkat’s character, he’s her blood, as are the aunts, uncles and cousins in her biological father's village threatened by the Taliban.

Harper, therefore, joins Bridges’ Dan Chase in doing whatever they need to do to protect Emily/Angela/ Parwana, which means protecting her extended family.

“One strong element of this series is the fact that it's about two old men with long and complicated backgrounds,” Lithgow said. “When you reach my age and Jeff's age and you look back over your life, there's no way you don't regret certain things, and wish you could do things differently. All those things come into play when you're just trying to do the right thing in the present.”

Our present is much changed from that of 2019, when the drama went into production, or even 2017, when Thomas Perry's novel, on which the drama is based, was published. As with any show that accidentally ends up resembling current events, Lithgow resisted drawing parallels between the plot of "The Old Man" and emerging news from Afghanistan and Russia.

“As an actor, you concentrate on the characters, and just exactly what you're talking about: the interrelationships that drive an emotional story,” he explained. “ It was equally good long before there was [geopolitical] global chaos for all of us to deal with, and all these deep existential fears that have bubbled up in the meantime.”

Nevertheless, he calls it an “interesting and key question.”

“When we started, Russia had not yet invaded Ukraine. And therefore, Russia was not a bad actor on the international scene, at least not nearly to the degree it is now,” Lithgow said. “Well, look at the plot of ‘The Old Man.’ That means history caught up with us: The story was about a war that took place 30 years ago, the war in Afghanistan, when it was a Soviet war. Now, it's a war against Russian interests in the very present day, at a time when suddenly Russia is a major villain on the international scene.”

“So yes, the series has this incredible unlooked-for resonance, which, I mean, we should be grateful for,” he continued, “but we're certainly not grateful that Russia has become an invading nation.”

Lithgow would rather the audience view the show through the more intimate lens of a group of people, and a makeshift family, swept up in history’s torrent – a thriller about the lingering effects of the choices a few men made in a long-ago war that ultimately boils down to three fathers caring for the daughter they share.

“You go through your life as an actor, just hoping what you do is not only entertaining but also important and meaningful,” Lithgow summarized, “And I've had a few moments where I felt, ‘Oh my god, I'm so lucky to be able to tell these stories.’”

New episodes of "The Old Man" premiere at 10 p.m. Thursdays on FX and stream the next day on Hulu.