Robert Redford had just returned to acting after a 6-year hiatus before his shock death at 89

Robert Redford had just returned to acting before he died in his sleep at his home in Utah at the age of 89 on Tuesday.

It had been six years since he worked in front of the camera; the Hollywood veteran was last seen in Avengers: Endgame in 2019.

Redford had a small uncredited role during season three in the Western thriller Dark Winds.

In March he joined George R. R. Martin for a tense scene in which their incarcerated characters play a game of chess while serving out their time in prison.

The seasoned octogenarian actor, who is also an executive producer on the series, requested a closed set to film the segment.

The actor was a true icon as he appeared on the silver screen alongside sirens such as Demi Moore, Barbra Streisand and Meryl Streep over his 60-year career.

Redford was making a comeback after a six-year hiatus.

On the show, he eventually loses the game to Martin’s character in the stress-inducing chess scene.

Speaking with Vulture following the premiere, director Chris Eyre said that an appearance from the industry icon had been ‘in the air since the first season.’

There were also talks of the star making a cameo in the season two finale, until finally the guest role came to fruition in season three.

‘I never thought I could get to a place in my life where I would know Robert Redford, let alone be in a scene with him,’ Zahn McClarnon, who is also an executive producer on the show, shared.

Showrunner John Wirth weighed in, ‘I was never really sure it was going to happen until it happened.’

Robert prematurely announced his retirement from acting in 2018.

‘Never say never, but I pretty well concluded that this would be it for me in terms of acting, and [I’ll] move towards retirement after this ’cause I’ve been doing it since I was 21,’ Us Weekly reported him saying nearly seven years ago.

‘I thought, “Well, that’s enough.” And why not go out with something that’s very upbeat and positive?’ he explained while referencing what he thought might be his final role in The Old Man & The Gun.

But just four weeks later he backtracked the statement, admitting to Variety that it ‘was a mistake’ to declare his retirement.

‘I should never have said that,’ he confessed, adding, ‘If I’m going to retire, I should just slip quietly away from acting, but I shouldn’t be talking about it because I think it draws too much attention in the wrong way. 

‘I want to be focused on this film and the cast.’

In the years since his flub, Redford has concentrated on executive producing, and in 2019 he was behind the successful Sundance Film Festival film The Mustang. 

He went on to do voiceover work in 2020’s Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia.

And he made a VOX cameo in 2023’s HBO series White House Plumbers, reprising his All the President’s Men role as journalist Bob Woodward.

Among his many accolades, Redford, who has been acting since his early twenties, earned a Best Director Oscar win in 1980 for Ordinary People.