Ethan Hawke’s New Western Crime Series Return Debuts To Solid Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score

The world is finally chiming in on the return of a beloved series starring Ethan Hawke.

From the many performances in Hawke’s long career, the world has seen the beloved star in different genres throughout the years. As 2026 nears its end, the actor has brought one of his latest roles back to the small screen.

The Lowdown season 2 is only a handful of episodes away from its finale, and as episode 8 gets closer to its release, the audience score for the crime dramedy has finally debuted on Rotten Tomatoes. As of writing, it is sitting at a 70% rating, while it is still holding 100% with critics, based on 16 submitted reviews.

In comparison to its Popcornmeter rating for The Lowdown season 1, which is at 77%, it surpasses season 2’s score by 7%. However, it’s crucial to remember that since there are still three episodes left to air, the ongoing season’s % is subject to change, as it could get higher or lower over the next couple of weeks as more users register their respective ratings on the platform.

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In ScreenRant’s The Lowdown season 2 review, Greg MacArthur addressed how the show’s 2026 return “banks too heavily on the immersive neo-noir style it established in season 1 without further supporting it with another strong core mystery connecting everything together. It nearly feels at times, through its first six of eight episodes, that the series would rather not be a crime series at heart, veering heavily into improvisational comedy and deep character study that feel like long, unnecessary detours more than fascinating and relevant explorations.” In addition to that, MacArthur shared how “this results in sharp tonal shifts that don’t gel as smoothly as season 1 did, forming a sprawling narrative that takes its time through unmemorable scenic routes when it should be picking up the pace.”

As of writing, no decision has been made about The Lowdown season 3, as it may come down to how the final episodes of season 2 perform. The series, which comes from Sterlin Harjo, featured new additions this year, with Tommy Lee Jones as Lee Raybon Sr. and Betty Gilpin as Ginger Lafferty. While speaking to ScreenRant’s Grant Hermanns, Gilpin shared how “something I love about the show is that it doesn’t treat the audience like it’s stupid. While being silly and zany and entertaining and wild and weird, it also asks the audience to hold two things at once, or five things at once.”

For the actress, she thinks that “where Ginger’s heart lies is one of those things where she’s sort of falling in love with two people at the same time in a way that happens in life. I think that you can be in existential crisis or heartbreak while you’re linked arms with someone else, because that experience is really hard and overwhelming and unexpected and makes you behave in unexpected ways. I think watching Lee and Ginger go through that together was a very profound experience for me as an actor.”

The Lowdown season 2 is set to run until November 25 on FX.

The Lowdown