Jeff Bridges reveals difficult return to The Old Man after cancer diagnosis - ‘I thought I won’t be able to come back’

Virgin Radio

11 Jul 2024, 15:30

Hollywood star Jeff Bridges has confessed his return to The Old Man for series two wasn’t always certain following his cancer diagnosis. 

The Big Lebowski star was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2020 after doctors found a large tumour in his stomach. He then started chemotherapy a year later, with the treatment dramatically shrinking the size of his tumour. 

Jeff’s cancer is in remission but the chemotherapy left him with a weakened immune system, and the actor caught COVID in his recovery that almost killed him. 

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Speaking in a new interview with People Magazine alongside The Old Man co-star John Lithgow, Jeff discussed how his return to the FX series was never a given due to his health. 

He explained: “I mean, I didn’t think I was ... I thought, ‘I’m not going to come back. I won’t be able to come back.’”

“As far as being back into the show again, everybody was so considerate about my condition,” he admitted. Despite the concerns over his comeback, Jeff felt his return to set wasn't "particularly difficult. Even the fight scenes after I came back, I can’t remember being upset about that.”

Remembering Jeff’s big comeback to set, co-star Lithgow recalled: “We really had to watch him. Everybody was watching Jeff. I mean, he needed oxygen occasionally.”

“He was so relaxed about it. He put everybody else at ease. Everyone at first was so watchful and nervous, and [he] just put everyone at ease.”

The Old Man series one tells the story of Dan Chase played by Bridges, who absconded from the CIA decades ago and has been living off the grid since.

When an assassin arrives and tries to take Chase out, the old operative learns that to ensure his future he now must reconcile his past.

It's down to the FBI’s Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Harold Harper (Lithgow) is called on to hunt him down because of his complicated past with the rogue fugitive.

The Old Man series one is available to watch on Disney+.