Ethan Hawke talks Season 2 of "The Lowdown"

and he plays a citizen journalist who just can't leave well enough alone and trouble seems to know exactly where to find him. Ethan Hawke is back as Tulsa's most unconventional truth seeker in season two of The Lowdown. The star and executive producer joins us now with more on all of the drama in the new season and on more Hollywood heavy hitters joining the cast. Ethan, good morning. It's good to catch up with you. How are you? I'm very well. Thanks for having me. I like listening to your introduction. This show really amuses me. I love it. Well, congratulations, first and foremost, on season two. How does it feel to come back in to play Lee for a second season? Well, you know, I've been acting since I was a little kid, you know, and I've never done a television show. I've never had a season two. This is completely new terrain for me. And I'm I'm incredibly lucky because I love this character and I love this show. If there's anything i would like to revisit like this character is it because i don't feel he he's such a hot mess and he's so complicated and he's full of so many contradictions that it's a pleasure to dig deeper into him and into his world i love that someone that's had the career that you've had and you've been nominated for an Oscar five times and there's still something new uh here for you in all of this and you kind of on that idea you've played so many unique characters but but this one is particularly unique what is it about him and just this whole world in Tulsa that made you want to do this role I don't know you know what it I mean obviously every character is unique right but this one feels form fitted to me uh Sterling Harjo the director is from Tulsa uh he and I have a shared love of music and a worldview that is in line with each other he he sees the political nature of our country with the same wit and silliness and love that i do um we're full of we're as complicated as Lee himself right and so what's wonderful about Tulsa is it's a city that's just ripe and perfect for a film noir there's so many crimes you have so many different kinds of people you know that for people who saw Killers of the Flower Moon that Scorsese movie you understand it's it's it's built on a crime then you had the race massacre you have the giant oil money you have all these beautiful people coming through and loving each other through it all you have Woody Guthrie and and Bob Wills and all the amazing music that's happened there um and so it's a it's a city that needs some exploration absolutely all right so you know another part of the fact that you're in a season two now uh big news are some of the additional cast members, Tommy Lee Jones, Betty Gilpin. What has it been like bringing them into the fold here? Well, it's the thing, I guess, about a season two is you need to kind of increase the band's power, you know, and Tommy Lee Jones comes in and plays my father, turns Lee's whole world upside down. The thrust of this season's mystery is Lee's taken on the prison industrial complex. There's a Native American prisoner who's gone missing in a federal penitentiary. How does that happen and how do you find someone who's gone missing in prison and my father shows back up turns my world upside down and meanwhile i'm falling madly in love for a public defender played by Betty Gilpin so the it's kind of like a whole new novel and and the novel keeps unfolding i mean like you said uh you have a love and respect for this character that you're playing or do you feel like you're constantly learning something new about lee as you play him well that's the thing about life that's so great you know i mean one lifetime is not enough to to learn you know and and getting to do these scenes with Tommy Lee who's kind of been on the same life path that i have and he's just you know 25 years further down the road and i get to learn from him and absorb what his experiences have been and taught him and that's amazing plus i also have this kid who plays my daughter who is just starting her career and full of all the idealism and hopes and dreams that i started with and so i'm working with that and i'm also getting to have this partner in crime uh sterling who's the filmmaker who's just one of the best i've ever worked with he's um he's got something to say and when you've got somebody with a camera that really wants to articulate themselves it makes going to set extremely interesting yeah this is like lightning in a bottle and you and Tommy Lee Jones together has to be absolutely iconic so we're looking uh forward to very much at the season premiere of season two tonight Ethan Hawke thank you so much for your time thank you all right and again season two of the Lowdown premieres tonight on FX and Hulu