Shawn Hatosy never thought he’d play a doctor. Now he’s breaking out as Jack Abbot, an attending physician who works the night shift on HBO Max’s hit The Pitt. Despite having a lot less screen time than his costars, he’s emerged as a fan favorite for his antics both onscreen—which also earned him an Emmy last fall—and on social media. His presence resonates especially with a younger generation of fans, who seem charmed by his casually confident tweets about his “great arm muscles” and Quentin Tarantino.

The show’s success is exciting—but it’s also put a lot of pressure on Hatosy, especially as his character emerges as a lawful-good counterpart to Noah Wyle’s increasingly polarizing Dr. Robby. The way the actor sees it, “It’s a lot. But these are great problems to have.”

On the eve of season two’s finale, we spoke with Hatosy about navigating internet fame, whether Tarantino would think he’s a “weak sauce” actor, and if he could really help you in a medical emergency.

Vanity Fair: You’ve earned a lot of love for your posts, and for being The Pitt’s answer to George Clooney. How have you adapted to all of this attention?

Shawn Hatosy: It’s definitely changed my life. I’m somebody that has a long history of being involved with social media; I always enjoyed looking at it like another creative outlet. With Twitter, it was almost something I used to get writing thoughts out in a way that was never intended to be serious. I try not to take myself too seriously, because I think there’s a lot of serious shit out there. I’ve gotten older, and social media has changed so much. And now with this huge success of The Pitt, I’ve definitely received a lot of attention, like you said. [More at Source]

When The Pitt‘s executive producers first approached Shawn Hatosy with their pitch for Dr. Abbott’s season two arc, he balked. “There was some discussion early on when I joined the show about how maybe Abbott would come back full-time in season two, so I was eagerly awaiting the news,” he explains. “And then they came back to me to suggest that he’s in the E.R. in the middle of the season and I was like, what does that mean? Why am I coming in the middle? Am I dying? Am I coming in on a gurney?”

The actor came around quickly once the creators explained that they were going to have Dr. Abbott serve as part of a SWAT team. “I loved the idea,” he added.

Hatosy is currently in Toronto filming his next project, the FX limited series Cry Wolf, alongside Olivia Colman, Brie Larson, showrunner Sarah Treem (The Affair) and director Anne Sewitsky. He can’t say much about the series yet, outside of teasing that it’s “one of the best scripts” he’s ever read and that it is the sort of narrative that constantly leaves the viewer off balance. The actor is also looking forward to meeting more fans of The Pitt than on his last trip to the country. “Animal Kingdom is huge in Canada, I think it must have been on during COVID or something,” he says. “When I was here during the summer, I couldn’t walk to the elevator in my hotel without somebody being like, ‘Oh my God, you’re Pope.’”

Below, he takes a break from set to break down season two, including his The Pitt directorial debut.

Let’s start with Abbott’s SWAT storyline. When does this man sleep?

I guess he doesn’t. He has his days free and he does all this stuff. I think he’s very lonely and just trying to figure out things to keep him occupied. I really love how he brings up the therapist, because he misses the point in such a big way. I remember having a conversation with my therapist when I gave up drinking, and I was like, I need something. I found tennis through that session. So I can imagine Abbott having a similar conversation, and he probably went and tried to play golf and it was not his thing so he decided to join the SWAT team. [More at Source]