From ER To The Pitt: Shawn Hatosy Talks 20-Year Relationship With John Wells, Hopes For Abbot In Season 2
You've definitely seen Shawn Hatosy on your screens before — but, depending on your preferred John Wells drama, you may know him for any number of roles.
First came a memorable guest spot on NBC's ER, on which he played Willis Peyton, a patient suffering from dissociative identity disorder... then came starring roles on a pair of TNT shows — Detective Sammy Bryant on Southland, and criminal Andrew "Pope" Cody on Animal Kingdom....
More recently, Hatosy has recurred as both politician Clayton Emerson on Fox's Rescue: HI-Surf, and medical practitioner Jack Abbot on Max's The Pitt — and it was his role on the acclaimed medical drama that prompted his latest conversation with TVLine.
Beyond the challenges of the series' mass casualty arc, and a major reveal about Abbot in Thursday's finale, we got to talking about his ongoing relationship with Wells, and how one week at County General, nearly 20 years ago, resulted in a decades-long partnership that continues to this day.
TVLINE | Your working relationship with John Wells goes back nearly 20 years now. So when he calls, and he tells you he's got a new show and a part for you in mind, is there even any question whether you're doing it?
No, I'm in! I'm there! There was one job recently [on Fox's Rescue: HI-Surf] where he called me and he asked me if I would go to Hawaii, and I didn't even let him finish. I just said, "I'm in, whatever you need." He didn't even tell me what the character was.
With Dr. Abbot, this was coming after the strikes, and The Pitt was just such a hot commodity — working in L.A., at Warner Brothers, and there's the history of Noah and John and Scott — it was just something that every actor in town wanted to be a part of. When we started talking about Abbot, he was only in that first scene — or, you know, a couple scenes in that first episode. Of course, I was in, and I really loved that first episode — the character is just so raw, and so real — but I didn't know exactly what they had in store for him around Episode 12. The second I saw that he shows up with his go bag, that he was listening to the police scanner [at home] ... it gives you so much exposition without having to say too much. And when I saw that he was in action, donating blood on the fly and leading people, I was, like, "Oh, I love this guy! There's no turning back now!" This is my favorite character.
TVLINE | As you said, it's impossible to ignore the history here. Obviously, you've got John, Scott and Noah working together again, but your relationship with John also dates back to ER — and that was a hell of an episode you did, playing a patient with dissociative identity disorder. John directed you in that one, right?
John directed that episode. Yeah, it was such a powerful character. He had three distinct personalities — one very volatile, one that was sort of an even-tempered guy, and then one that was like an 8-year-old child. Working with John — the collaboration with a character like that, which was challenging because it had so many levels, and also feeling the freedom to explore it and take risks... I knew that if I could just keep working with him, I would be really creatively satisfied — and, man, it happened!
TVLINE | I imagine he had that role in mind when Southland came along, and then came Animal Kingdom.... That one part on ER changed everything.
That one role, yeah. And it's interesting because, I think a year prior to working with John [on that episode], I received an offer to do a role on ER. It was a veteran who was hurt, and I was busy and it didn't work out. This one came a year later, and they wanted me to read for it. I was like, "What is this?" And then I read it, and I was like, "Oh, I get it." But my point Is that I'm so glad I did it because it has turned into this wonderful, creative collaboration, and I think it is important to understand that, as an actor, when you're doing a guest [spot], you just don't know who you're going to change the mind of for the future. It can grow into so many different things.
TVLINE | At TVLine, ahead of the premiere, we ran that scene with you and Noah up on the roof. It felt like two of John Wells' Avengers had assembled. Did that bond you and Noah at all — that shared history with John? Or did you already have a preexisting relationship outside the show?
Noah and I go way back just through mutual business acquaintances, and then as I started working with John, he famously has these holiday parties. I've been going since Southland, and Noah and I would be at the buffet table, grabbing turkey legs together and just chatting it up, so I definitely had a ton of admiration for him.
There's just something very enjoyable about that camaraderie [between Robby and Abbot]. You see a character in Dr. Robby who has been the leader, the teacher, the brother, the father figure... Everybody is [relying] on him — needing something, asking for something — and he is there as much as he can be. When Abbot shows up, he's a colleague that is on the same level, so when Dr. Robby starts to falter, it's nice that he has somebody that he can lean on that doesn't need anything from him.
TVLINE | You're introduced in Episode 1, and then you don't return until Episode 12. This show is shot mostly chronologically, so a lot has happened by the time Dr. Abbot returns — not only on the page, but on set. Everyone has been finding their groove, figuring out how this show runs... talk to me about getting thrown back in amid the unrelenting chaos of those mass casualty episodes.
Yeah, it's not fair, is it? [Laughs] My very first day was when we shot me coming down the elevator and giving him the letter [in Episode 1] — you know, handing off and and leaving. That was one of the first scenes they filmed on The Pitt, and then I go away and come to Pittsburgh, where we do the roof scene from the beginning and the roof scene from the end, and everybody has spent so much time working together. They've been through boot camp, and I'm an outsider. I don't really know what [Episodes] 12, 13, 14 and 15 are. I just hear things. They gave us a little bit of a [heads up], but they hadn't written them, so they didn't necessarily know either. But that's not unusual. You're kind of used to that as an actor working in TV. Thankfully, it was Noah and John and, like you said, there's history with John.
It was a very powerful scene up there at the end of 15. We spent a lot of time on it. And for me, that whole experience — having come from the school of John Wells, and working with them for so long, to be up there with these two artists doing their thing and being a part of that — was very, very rewarding.
TVLINE | We know Abbot was a combat medic. How much did that backstory help guide you here — for instance, the way Abbot commands a room...?
You know, there's something about this character. You're wearing scrubs, and a surgical white gown with these goggles on your face... it's so stripped down. There's no flashy, defining wardrobe. There's no facade. There's just the scruff and the go bag, and a quiet confidence that comes from knowing exactly what he's doing. He's really raw, he's completely competent in this world — and, for me, I don't know. This is the most me I've ever felt in a character. That's not to say that I'm as eloquent or as intelligent as Abbot, but the personality and the attributes are very similar.
Joining the show in Episode 12, when the s–t is hitting the fan — after they've spent, you know, seven months going through the process — was terrifying for me. Not just the physical, technical stuff, but the [medical jargon], which takes a minute to get used to. Everything is shot in such a specific way, and everybody is working together and in sync, and if you blow one of these difficult terms, the resets are awful. They're really bad. We don't have lighting changes on the show because it's all built [into the set], but a reset is like a lighting change. It takes a while, so it creates a lot of stress.
TVLINE | So, having shot those bookends in advance didn't necessarily prepare you for what you were stepping into in Episode 12.
Yes, but also no. It couldn't have prepared you for exactly [what comes] because once you're there, and you see the blood on the floor, and gurney after gurney of people... it's so damn emotional just being in it, and experiencing it. It just feels real.
TVLINE | We find out, only in that last scene in the park, that Abbot is an amputee. What did you make of that reveal, and the fact that they waited until after we had seen Abbot in action to inform the audience that he's an amputee in the finale?
It is a revelation that he lost his right leg — we assume from combat, just because of his history — and it is a huge surprise, not only to some of the newer characters who have just met Abbot, but it's also a surprise to the audience, and I think that's the point. It reminds us that the injury doesn't define him; what defines him is his strength, his abilities, his presence and the quiet command that he brings to every moment. He's the guy that you want in the room when everything's failing, and the fact that he's a single-leg amputee doesn't have anything to do with that.
TVLINE | Viewers have really taken to Dr. Abbot. Readers kept asking when he'd be back, before he resurfaced in Episode 12. Having come back in a big way for these last four, can we expect a lot more of Abbot in Season 2?
I love every minute of making the show, and I would love to come back in any capacity that they would have me.
TVLINE | Dr. Abbot likes working night shifts, but I imagine Shawn would take a day shift if John Wells asked nicely...?
Oh, for sure! Yes, put me on the day shift! I could be very comfortable on the day shift! [Laughs]
TVLINE | You directed several episodes of Animal Kingdom, you recently directed an episode of Rescue: HI-Surf... do you think you'd want to direct on The Pitt if the opportunity arose?
Yes. Yes, I can't say it quickly enough. It's such a perfect show. With shows like Animal Kingdom and Rescue: HI-Surf, you spend that whole prep week picking locations — scouting and casting, and things like that. This is a show that's such an ensemble that's really... it's theater, you know what I mean? It's technical, and what you bring to it as a director is totally different than anything that I've worked on so far. I mean, everybody in town would love to do it. Yeah, for sure!
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