The Lowdown is an American crime comedy drama television series created by Sterlin Harjo for FX. It stars Ethan Hawke and Keith David and premiered on September 23, 2025. In January 2026, the series was renewed for a second season, which is set to premiere on October 14, 2026.
Contents
Premise
The series is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It features a man "who knows too much" and is loosely inspired by historian Lee Roy Chapman.
Cast and characters
Main
Ethan Hawke as Lee Raybon
Keith David as Marty Brunner, private investigator and friend of Donald Washberg
Recurring
Kaniehtiio Horn as Samantha, Lee's ex-wife
Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Francis, Lee and Samantha's 13-year-old daughter
Jeanne Tripplehorn as Betty Jo Washberg, Dale Washberg's widow
Macon Blair as Dan Kane, lawyer and Lee's friend
Scott Shepherd as Allen Murphy, an ex-con associated with Akron Construction
Tim Blake Nelson as Dale Washberg, deceased brother of Donald Washberg
Tracy Letts as Frank Martin, head of Akron Construction
Michael Hitchcock as Ray Moseley, antique dealer and Lee's friend
Michael "Killer Mike" Render as Cyrus Arnold, owner of the Tulsa Beat
Cody Lightning as Waylon, an ex-con hired by Lee for security
Abbie Cobb as Vickey Williams, real estate agent and Lee's friend
Josh Fadem as Abel Bell
Eric Edelstein as Blackie, a skinhead
Johnny Pemberton as Berta, a skinhead
Zachary Booth as Elijah, editor of the Heartland Press
Kyle MacLachlan as Donald Washberg, candidate for governor of Oklahoma
Siena East as Deidra, Lee's employee at the bookstore
Notable guests
Paulina Alexis as Willie Jack
Devery Jacobs as Elora Danan Postoak
Johnny Polygon as Reverend Tyrell
John Doe as Marlon
Peter Dinklage as Wendell, Lee's former partner at the bookstore
Tisha Campbell as Odette
Graham Greene as Arthur Williams, Chutto's grandfather
Episodes
Production
A drama pilot titled The Sensitive Kind created and executive produced by Sterlin Harjo and starring Ethan Hawke was announced in February 2024 by FX. Hawke is also an executive producer alongside Garrett Basch and it was produced by FX Productions. In May 2025, the series title was confirmed as The Lowdown.
The pilot was filmed in Oklahoma in April and May 2024. The cast of the pilot includes Keith David, Siena East, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tim Blake Nelson, Scott Shepherd, Tracy Letts, Kyle MacLachlan, and Macon Blair as well as Kaniehtiio Horn, Killer Mike, Cody Lightning, Michael Hitchcock, and Ryan Kiera Armstrong. It received a series order from FX in October 2024. Principal photography began on February 10, 2025. Adam Stone, Mark Schwartzbard, and Christopher Norr serve as cinematographers. Patrick Tuck, Dane McMaster, and Gina Sansom are editors.
Harjo confirmed that the series takes place in the same fictional universe as Reservation Dogs, another FX series that he co-created, and in which Hawke and Horn portrayed different characters. In the pilot episode, Paulina Alexis makes a cameo appearance as Willie Jack, her character from that series, while Devery Jacobs makes a cameo appearance as her character Elora Danan Postoak in the second episode.
In January 2026, FX renewed the series for a second season. In March 2026, Betty Gilpin and Tommy Lee Jones were announced to have been cast in the second season. In April, Austin Amelio joined the cast.
Release
The Lowdown had its world premiere on September 4, 2025, as part of the primetime program lineup of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. The series subsequently premiered on FX on September 23, 2025. The series debuted with a two-episode premiere on FX at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on Tuesday, September 23, with the remaining eight episodes airing weekly over the following six Tuesdays.
The second season is set to premiere on FX and Hulu on October 14, 2026.
Streaming
Episodes of The Lowdown were made available for streaming on Hulu the day after their FX broadcast. Internationally, the series was made available to stream on Disney+.
Analytics company Samba TV, which gathers viewership data from certain smart TVs and content providers, reported that The Lowdown attracted 719,000 U.S. households during its first six days on Hulu. JustWatch, a guide to streaming content with access to data from more than 20 million users around the world, calculated that it placed among the ten most-streamed television series in the U.S. from September 22 to October 5, 2025. Streaming analytics firm FlixPatrol, which monitors daily updated VOD charts and streaming ratings across the globe, announced that during the week of December 29, The Lowdown appeared in the Disney+ Top 10 in 18 European countries, including markets across Southeastern Europe (the Balkans), Central Europe, Northern Europe (the Nordic countries), and the Baltic region. The series subsequently ranked eighth on Disney+ globally and on Hulu's rankings on January 2, 2026.
Reception
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 98% approval rating based on 59 critic reviews with an average rating of 8.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Brightening up its mysteries with a hometown affection for Tulsa and hanging its hat on Ethan Hawke's hangdog charisma, The Lowdown reaches impressive highs as pulpy entertainment." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave a score of 85 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Ratings
The Lowdown recorded a peak total audience (P2+) of 303,000 viewers with a 0.09 rating on September 30, 2025. Among adults aged 18–49, the highest reported audience was 81,500 viewers (0.06 rating) on the same date. The most recent episode, aired on November 4, 2025, attracted 187,000 total viewers (0.06 rating), including 27,000 viewers aged 18–49 (0.02 rating) and 153,500 household viewers (0.12 rating). Across the measured period, total viewership (P2+) ranged from 166,000 to 303,000 viewers, while ratings among adults aged 18–49 varied between 0.02 and 0.06.
Accolades
The American Film Institute included The Lowdown among the top-ten television programs of 2025. Ethan Hawke received a nomination for Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series at the 2026 Film Independent Spirit Awards.