Ethan Hawke explains what makes his character in FX's 'The Lowdown' a "truthstorian"

In "The Lowdown," Ethan Hawke plays Lee Raybon, a writer whose latest exposé on the powerful Washberg family is followed by the mysterious "suicide" of one of the family members. Lee thinks something's suspicious about the death and uses what he calls his "truthstorian" skills to get to the bottom of this mystery. So, what is a "truthstorian?" Hawke is glad you asked!

"There's something so fun about having a new word and how to introduce your character in a way where nobody understands what the hell you're talking about. I loved it," Hawke told On The Red Carpet. "It just kind of means I want to live in a world that's grounded by truth so I'm going to expose lies as a writer, as a journalist."

"We're sort of watching him audition the word. He's a little unsure about it himself. But that's Lee, though, right? He's sometimes lying to get to the truth," added Sterlin Harjo, who's the show's creator, writer, director and executive producer.

Lee has plenty of truth to uncover and as he digs deep into the mysteries and scandals, he finds himself in trouble of his own.

"When you're in a town with so many secrets, you're bound to piss somebody off, which he does, over and over," said Keith David who plays a private eye named Marty.

Someone who seems to have lots of secrets is Donald Washberg, played by Kyle MacLachlan, who was not very happy about Lee's persistent questioning.

"(He) did not enjoy his continual attempts to uncover and scrape away and lean into this family. You know, he's like a dog with a bone, Ethan's character. And he was barking up the wrong tree," MacLachlan said. "I do feel that one of the strengths of, actually, the story, the script, the whole series, is the fact that all of the characters start as what you think, you get a sense of who they are, but they continue to deepen and evolve through the episodes. And that's certainly true for Donald," MacLachlan explained.

Jeanne Tripplehorn, who plays Betty Jo Washberg, explained what it was about her character that made her take the role.

"I mean, it's (a) former rodeo queen from a small town in Oklahoma, who marries into this Oklahoma royalty, hit the jackpot. Or in oil terms, she hit a gusher," she said. "She's colorful. But I tried to kind of ground her in reality. I didn't want her to be a caricature. But yeah, she's character gold."

The cast said viewers can expect lots of twists and turns throughout the series.

"Everything that you perceived is going to be turned upside down," said Tripplehorn.

"Noir happens to be my favorite genre. And if you like noir, you're going to love 'The Lowdown,'" said David.

"The one thing I'm most confident about with the show is that the way Sterling resolves our series is fantastic. I'm so proud to be a part of it. And what I think is exciting about crime fiction and noir is that this is a character that we could put in a million different situations. And this series is him on a quest. But there could be future quests where he becomes undone and his secrets are revealed, because I think he has some," said Hawke.

Is that a hint about future seasons? We'll have to wait and see.

"The Lowdown" premieres September 23 on FX and streams the next day on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.

The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of FX, Hulu and this ABC station.