Beau Bridges Joins ‘R.J. Decker’ Season 2 as Scott Speedman’s Estranged Father

R.J. Decker is adding some serious acting pedigree to the family.

Emmy and Golden Globe winner Beau Bridges has joined the ABC drama for its second season, and his character comes with a very personal connection to Scott Speedman’s R.J. Decker. Bridges will play R.J.’s estranged father, opening the door for the series to dig deeper into the private life of its disgraced former newspaper photographer turned private investigator.

The casting immediately raises some interesting questions about R.J.’s past. An estranged parent rarely arrives on television without some baggage attached, and considering the complicated man viewers already know R.J. to be, meeting his father could provide a few answers about how he became that way. Just how much Bridges’ character will factor into the larger Season 2 story remains to be seen.

Bridges brings decades of television and film experience to the role. His extensive résumé includes The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Descendants, Masters of Sex and Homeland, while more recent television appearances have included Lessons in Chemistry and Matlock. Casting an actor of his caliber as R.J.’s father certainly suggests the series has more planned for the character than a simple family reunion.

R.J. Decker stars Speedman as the title character, a former newspaper photographer whose career imploded before he reinvented himself as a private investigator in South Florida. The series is inspired by Carl Hiaasen’s novel Double Whammy, with its Florida setting giving the show plenty of room for strange cases, colorful characters and the kind of offbeat humor associated with Hiaasen’s work.

The television adaptation has also been building its own version of R.J.’s world rather than simply following the novel beat for beat. Bringing his estranged father into the picture gives Season 2 another opportunity to expand R.J. beyond the mysteries he investigates and explore the relationships that helped shape him.

Speedman leads the cast alongside Jaina Lee Ortiz, Bevin Bru, Kevin Rankin and Adelaide Clemens. With Bridges now entering R.J.’s already complicated life, Season 2 may be getting considerably more personal for its private investigator.

R.J. Decker Season 2 premieres Tuesday, September 15 on ABC.