2022–2024 · Based on 2 seasons through October 24, 2024 ·
Dan Chase is a retired CIA agent who has lived off the grid for decades. When people from his past come after him, he teams up with former colleague Harold Harper. Their choices lead them back to Afghanistan, where an old secret ties their families to warlord Faraz Hamzad. The show is a tense spy story about loyalty, violence, and the cost of past choices. In season two, Dan and Harold go to Afghanistan to find Emily, the daughter they both raised. Emily learns that she is Hamzad’s daughter and begins using her birth name, Parwana. She escapes captors and takes charge of her family’s lithium mine, while the men around her struggle over who can protect or control her. Her Afghan roots and new authority shape much of the season, alongside the series’ family drama and spy plot.
Community feedback
Was our 27% Woke rating accurate?
Loading review details…
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for The Old Man.
Woke representation / casting
Emily’s role as an Afghan family leader becomes prominent in season two. A season-specific feature called “The Future Is Female” focuses on her growing importance. The series does not present its casting as a broad diversity campaign.
16%
Woke political dialogue
Not present. The dialogue centers on spy work, family ties, and past choices.
0%
Identity-driven story themes
Emily learns that she is Hamzad’s daughter and starts using the name Parwana. She escapes her captors and takes charge of her family’s lithium mine. The men who once protected or claimed authority over her must respond to her new power.
27%
Western institutional / cultural critique
Not present. The CIA and FBI face suspicion over secret deals, as part of the spy plot.
0%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. The series changes the novel’s setting and expands family stories, but the reported changes are not about identity.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
One Reddit commenter called Julian Carson a “black, gay, assassin” chosen to fit “woke politics.” The post drew no notable pickup. The claim about his sexuality was not confirmed in the sources reviewed.
8%
Creator track record context
Steinberg’s stored score is 43, based on work that explored political and sexual questions. Littlefield scores 57 for past work on gay characters and feminist themes. Levine scores 13, while several other key writers and producers have scores from 40 to 51.
39%
Production
TV Show · 2025
Before The Terminal List, Navy SEAL Ben Edwards finds himself entangled in the black operations side of the CIA.
TV Show · 2016
The story of Mac Conway, a Marine who returns home to Memphis from Vietnam in 1972 and finds himself shunned by those he loves and demonized by the public.
TV Show · 2019
An antiquities expert teams up with an art thief to catch a terrorist who funds his attacks using stolen artifacts.
TV Show · 2022
Navy SEAL Commander James Reece turns to vengeance as he investigates the mysterious forces behind the murder of his entire platoon.
TV Show · 2022
With the aid of unexpected friends, a gifted but introverted student confronts bullies and violent foes — unaware of how dangerous his world will become.
TV Show · 2016
In 18th-century North America, ruthless trappers and entrepreneurs fight to wrest control of the fur trade from the mighty Hudson's Bay Company.
TV Show · 2020
Desperate to take care of his pregnant wife before a terminal illness can take his life, Dodge Maynard accepts an offer to participate in a deadly game where he soon discovers…
TV Show · 2018
When CIA analyst Jack Ryan stumbles upon a suspicious series of bank transfers his search for answers pulls him from the safety of his desk job and catapults him into a deadly…
