‘It mirrored a lot of my life’

Oliver Hudson co-stars in Fox’s crime drama “The Cleaning Lady,” which returns for Season 2 on Monday. 

The series (Sept 19, 9 p.m. on Fox) centers around Thony De La Rosa (Elodie Yung), a former Cambodian-Filipino doctor who has been working as a cleaning service worker in Las Vegas while seeking medical treatment for her son. Soon, she becomes entangled with mobster Arman (Adan Canto), and she becomes a cleaner and a doctor on his payroll. Hudson co-stars as Garrett Miller, an FBI agent who goes after Thony in an effort to bring down Arman. Hudson, 46, answered some questions for The Post. 

What attracted you to this role? 

I’ve done some drama, I did a show called “Nashville,” but I have really mostly done comedy, and this was an opportunity to do something different. And when I talked to Melissa [Carter] and Miranda [Kwok], our creators, about the character, it wasn’t your standard FBI guy. He’s not a suit and tie, play by the rules guy. He lives in a gray area. And I watched the pilot, and it was really good. It had this feeling of a streamer, in a sense. It was deliberate, it wasn’t all chopped up and cut for time, it felt like it had some gravitas to it. I thought it would just be a fun experience. And so far, I’m extremely happy. Because I had a choice between doing a comedy and this, and I went out on a limb and chose “The Cleaning Lady,” and it was the right choice. 

What parts of Garrett do you find relatable? 

It’s relatable to me on a personal level – Melissa and Miranda created his backstory probably long before they ever thought of me. But, I read the backstory they sent me, and it mirrored a lot of my life. It’s obviously different, but Garrrett’s dad was a criminal, and his uncle sort of came in and raised him and was a firefighter and a war hero, and that’s who he looked up to. But he’s always wrestling with this good and bad side of him – is he more like his father, or more like his uncle? 

It was similar to me. My relationship with my real dad, Bill [Hudson] is good right now. We’ve mended things, and it’s great. But leading up to that, he wasn’t around, and my step dad, Kurt [Russell] came into my life and raised me. And you sort of wonder who you are. There’s a part of you that’s missing because you don’t know that side of your family and don’t have anything to look at in the mirror. So, that was very relatable to me personally about the character. 

What can you share about Season 2? 

The story really picks up with Garrett where he has an informant from a prior case who he had an affair with and actually ruined his marriage. And now we find out that she’s in danger, since she’d gotten involved with this dangerous drug kingpin who is connected to Tony and Arman and what they’re trying to do. that’s where the stories intersect, and it gets messy. There’s a lot of distrust and having to work together, and there’s a few deaths that really rock the show. It gets a little gnarly.

You come from a family filled with actors – there’s your sister Kate Hudson, your brother Wyatt Russell, your mom Goldie Hawn, your stepdad Kurt Russell. Do you always watch each other’s projects? 

Yes and no – like my brother Wyatt did a show called “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” for Marvel, I didn’t see one of those [episodes]. But then he did “Under the Banner of Heaven” and I watched every episode I loved it. It was amazing. So, we check each other out, but I think whether we get locked in or not depends on the show. 

I will say, with “The Cleaning Lady,” it was the first time in my twenty plus year career that my parents watched every episode and were invested. They were coming to me asking questions, like ‘Oh my God, that was great – what happens with this?’ Which I’ve never experienced with my parents before, so that felt good.