What role has Ethan Hawke played in The Lowdown? Details revealed as the FX show gears up for premiere

The Lowdown is a limited drama series that is produced by FX and aired on 12 September 2025. The series combines the realistic nature with the psychological thriller, which is sprinkled with the visuals of a bustling urban America.

It is a character study, as well as a social thriller, and it immerses the audience in a morally grey world where greed, deception, and treachery are at odds. Among the best performances in the show is Ethan Hawke, who plays Martin Kessler, an ex-investigative journalist who becomes an unwilling insider.

Martin, who had at one time become a hero in the eyes of the whole country through his revelation of the corruption in the political and corporate world, is now pulled back into the very world he had so desperately attempted to flee. He is a liability and an asset to the people around him because of his knowledge of underground networks, ancient alliances, and scandalous secrets.

More about Ethan Hawke’s role and The Lowdown

Hawke in Martin is a highly ambivalent character, a man who is divided between the truth and survival. Martin, the character haunted by his past compromises, comes into The Lowdown as somebody with a heavy burden of guilt but also with an insatiable curiosity.

He is pulled into bad circles, whereby his loyalty is put to the test, and all decisions come at a cost. Even Hawke has referred to Martin as a man haunted by what he knows and crippled by what he can never relinquish. His personality always walks the fine line of whistleblower and enabler, truth-seeker and survivor. It is this moral ambiguity that makes Martin a very interesting presence in the show.

Hawke has looked back on the role in interviews as one that has pushed him to investigate the gray fields of human morality, typically. He observes that Martin is erratic, but not due to being reckless; rather, he is complex, a person capable of not being able to overcome his past, and yet he desires redemption.

It is not a new place to Hawke, who has worked in the industry for decades and received great acclaim in various roles, including Training Day and Boyhood, as well as his chilling performance in The Good Lord Bird. That is what makes Martin an advantage, as he is able to portray both vulnerable and dangerous characters with ease. Hawke has made The Lowdown richly detailed by living within the contradictions of Martin.

Cast of The Lowdown

The ensemble cast makes the show enhance its layered storytelling and bases the suspense on a world that is real and raw. Ethan Hawke plays the lead role in the drama as Martin Kessler, the tortured former journalist whose awareness and conscience are the catalysts to the storyline.

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Regina King features as a detective called Alana Torres, who is a ruthless investigator who feels that Martin has more information than the one he is telling. Domhnall Gleeson is Daniel Price, a lobbyist who is a charismatic man with vague connections to corruption, and Zoë Kravitz is Lena Morales, a tech activist whose uncomfortable collaboration with Martin endangers her.

Clive Owen gives another twist to The Lowdown story by playing the role of Robert Kessler, a brother of Martin, who is a corporate lawyer and whose ambitions are in conflict with the truth that Martin is seeking.

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