FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2026 — Tommy Lee Jones does not do red carpets anymore. So when the 80-year-old Oscar winner walked one Wednesday night at the AFS Cinema in Austin for the season 2 premiere of FX's The Lowdown, it was news all by itself.
Jones posed for photos alongside costars Ethan Hawke, Ryan Kiera Armstrong and Killer Mike, plus series creator Sterlin Harjo — in a navy windowpane plaid blazer, a light blue shirt and jeans, casual and, by all accounts, in good spirits. Per USA Today, it was his first public appearance in nearly three years; his last red carpet was the December 2023 premiere of Finestkind. Page Six noted he walked the carpet solo and posed with his costars, and described him as all smiles — a small detail, but a welcome one.
The timing is what gives the night its weight. Nine months ago, Jones lost his youngest child. Victoria Jones, 34, was found in the hallway of a San Francisco hotel just before 3 a.m. on Jan. 1 and declared dead at the scene, the San Francisco Fire Department told USA Today at the time. Her death was determined to be accidental, the result of the toxic effects of cocaine. The family's statement then asked only for privacy: "We appreciate all of the kind words, thoughts, and prayers. Please respect our privacy during this difficult time." She had appeared in several of her father's films, including Men in Black II and The Homesman.
The role that brought him back
In the new season, Jones plays Lee Raybon Sr., the estranged grifter father of Hawke's citizen journalist character — a two-episode arc, but not a cameo. "It's an odd life, and, to be really good at it, it's extremely difficult," Hawke told USA Today of watching Jones work on set, adding that it "made me proud to be an actor." He continued: "He's been through the fires of life, and I look forward to people seeing Tommy in the show, because he doesn't just make a cameo in the show. He's giving a performance, and it's a great one."
That praise tracks with what Hawke told TV Insider back in September about the casting: "We're just kind of going about who would be a great formidable figure in Lee Raybon's life and Tommy Lee popped up in our mind. Then we couldn't get him out and he was a fan of The Lowdown."
It's also a television rarity for Jones. Per People, this is his first series role in decades — his last non-film television performance was the 1989 miniseries Lonesome Dove. His last released films were Finestkind and The Burial, both from 2023.
What season 2 looks like
The Lowdown, created by Sterlin Harjo and set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, debuted in September 2025 and quickly became one of FX's signature shows. The premise follows Hawke's Lee Raybon, a bookstore owner who moonlights as a citizen journalist, digging into corruption in Tulsa — the kind of journalism that tends to get a person into trouble.
Season 2, which premieres Oct. 14 at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT on FX and Hulu, finds Lee digging into corruption and malfeasance among the city's wealthy elite — per the show's synopsis, a story with all of Lee's favorite ingredients, while he stays committed to exposing the city's hidden rot even when it puts him at risk. Keith David, Jeanne Tripplehorn and, this season, Betty Gilpin round out the cast alongside Hawke and Jones.
The season arrives just five days after Jones's return to public life was captured in Austin. Whether the spotlight stays on him is, by all appearances, entirely his call — the man has never been one for victory laps. But the Austin premiere made one thing clear: when the role is right, Tommy Lee Jones still shows up.
Also out today: the independent film Angel and the Badman, a remake of the 1947 John Wayne classic featuring Jones, which USA Today notes arrives alongside The Lowdown as his first screen work since the tragedy. The coincidence of the dates — a prestige FX season on one side, a quiet indie western remake on the other — is a fittingly understated way for one of the industry's most private stars to come back: no announcement, no interview tour, just the work, showing up on the day it's due.
