06-05-2025
‘The Pitt' star Shawn Hatosy loves ‘ER cowboy' Dr. Abbot as much as you do
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Shawn Hatosy has been a mainstay in the John Wells Cinematic Universe for 19 years. He guest-starred in an episode of ER in 2006, playing a patient with dissociative identity disorder, before the prolific producer recruited him for Southland, Animal Kingdom, Rescue: HI-Surf, and now The Pitt. The actor calls it a "full circle moment," as he started as a guest star on a Wells medical drama starring Noah Wyle and is now — billing-wise — a special guest star on another Wells medical drama starring Wyle.
But there's nothing impermanent about the impact Hatosy's Dr. Jack Abbot has had in just five of 15 episodes in Season 1. After appearing in the pilot, in which Dr. Robby (Wyle) finds the former combat medic dejected on the roof following a tough night shift, Abbot doesn't come back until the 12th episode to help with the mass casualty. And he instantly became a fan favorite. "It's been overwhelming and so incredibly positive," Hatosy tells Gold Derby of the fan response.
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If you've seen the last four episodes, you probably found yourself wondering, why hasn't Abbot been in every episode (besides, you know, it being the day shift)? Quietly confident, mischievous, and just an all-round rock star, Abbot is clearly in his element during the mass casualty, shifting from patient to patient with laser focus and problem-solving on the fly with tricky procedures. When he returns, he tells Robby he heard about the Pittfest shooting on the police scanner and just grabbed his go bag, full of handy gadgets he used in the military. When the doctors start donating blood amid the chaos, Abbot straps his blood bag to his left leg so he can continue working on patients. That move takes on more resonance in the final minutes of the finale — after we've seen Abbot in action — when it's casually revealed that he has a prosthetic right leg.
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"It is such a master class in writing without having to give too much exposition," Hatosy says. "You learn that he's at home listening to a police scanner, which just says so much. Not only that his DNA is this world of combat medicine and preparedness, but also that we just saw him leave a shift where it weighed on him heavily what he experienced. He was having a hard time dealing with it, but he still goes home and listens to a police scanner because he's so addicted to the work. He says it in [Episode] 15: We're the bees that protect the hive."
Being a single-leg amputee "doesn't define him," Hatosy adds. "Abbot is a incredibly talented physician who you want when the storm is brewing. He's the guy that is calm, and he's defined by his leadership and his ability to protect the hive."
Protecting the hive answered a question that Abbot himself asked Robby on the roof in the pilot, when he remarked that he's not sure why he keeps coming back to work — and one that Robby is asking on the roof in the finale after his own taxing shift, during which he had suffered a breakdown. Unlike other characters on the show, Abbot is Robby's equal, someone who offers a steady hand (and his therapist) when he's adrift, flipping what you think you know about their dynamic from the pilot on its head.
"As we kind of push towards the end and we see these roles reversed and Robby's now up on the roof, Abbot comes out and he says, 'You're in my spot.' And it's such a light thing to say to a guy in that position, but what he's really saying is, 'I see you. You're literally in my spot. I've been there.' And so these two get the chance to explore this dynamic in a way that that Robby doesn't get with anybody else," Hatosy says.
"They get each other. ... It's putting one on the roof in the beginning and one on the roof at the end. One's night shift, one's day shift. Not a lot of people can go up to Dr. Robby and say, 'Hey, look, man, the bullet tore through her heart,'" he continues, referring to Robby's futile efforts trying to save the girlfriend of his ex's son. "But Abbot can. The others don't have the authority to do it. Dana (Katherine LaNasa), as hard as she tries, or Whitaker (Gerran Howell), or anybody else who's there — they just [can't]. Robby's not necessarily going to listen to Abbot, he has to take what he says [to heart]."
Credit: Warrick Page/Max - Credit: Warrick Page/Max
Warrick Page/Max
While The Pitt shoots in continuity, the rooftop scenes were shot on location in Pittsburgh in September midway through production on the season. At the time, scripts for the final four episodes had not been written. Hatosy didn't know specifically how or why Abbot returned, and Robby's speech that Abbot compliments him on did not exist.
"That scene, I found that if I could just get out of the way of trying to create something and just sort of let myself into the role, then it would work for some reason," Hatosy says. "When you're creating a character as an actor, you're trying to figure out these tricks and just things that don't matter. And there's something about just trusting your instinct that can be incredibly successful. And so, having not known everything that was going on, and just sort of delivering and being there and experiencing Noah, who's such a brilliant actor, who's always listening, who's incredibly collaborative, and just sort of like giving all the time — that's what worked for me."
Another character-revealing moment occurs in an episode without Abbot. In the premiere, Abbot tells Robby that a 17-year-old was coming in later for a medication abortion. In the fifth episode, Dr. Collins (Tracy Ifeachor) realizes that Abbot had lowballed the fetal measurements so the teen could get the abortion. She brings it up to Robby, who takes no issue with Abbot's actions and in fact does the same.
"I found out when I watched it on the air," Hatosy shares. "I think there are a number of things that occur between Robby and Abbott in that first exchange when they're coming down the elevator. One of them is he hands him the letter to the family the veteran he lost, and that he talks about the Kraken, and then he talks about the teen who is going to come back for mifepristone. And I think, really, it does two things. One, it illustrates that he's an ER cowboy, much like Robby. They're very similar. They're kind of mirror images of each other. He doesn't have to explain to Robby that he fudged the measurements. He just knows it's an unspoken understanding between these two that Robby is going to handle it, because that's what they do. So it really kind of cements this relationship, this bond that they have."
The second thing it accomplishes is viewers get a better sense of Abbot, so his return "provides the audience with a bit of relief that there's somebody competent there who's going to be able to to handle things."
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Abbot's roguish ways also extend to his teaching. He mildly warns Dr. Santos (Isa Briones) not to do an unassisted REBOA again before whispering that it was badass and she saved a life. And then he guides Dr. Mohan (Surpiya Ganesh) through a tricky heart procedure, telling her when it's over that it was too risky for him to do himself. It's flirty and charming, and Hatosy thinks "there is something there."
"He has a quiet admiration for Mohan. There was a line in the first episode where somebody makes a comment about her being slow. It didn't make it into the cut, but Abbot stands up for her. He's like, 'She's the smartest one here, you know,'" he says. "For him to say that — and I believe it to be true — I think he has incredible respect for her. And sometimes that's intoxicating in that setting. You're dealing with somebody that you respect and can do amazing things with their mind. So that's the way I envisioned it."
Hatosy has no idea what's in store for Abbot in Season 2, which will take place on the Fourth of July, but he's up for anything, even if it means Abbot having to work a day shift.
"I've performed on stage and that has an energy to it. But this [show] is like a unit of people working together — instinct, background artists and crew and actors and doctors. It's not like anything I've ever experienced. They've made it so everybody feels like they're involved in such a in such a meaningful and powerful way. And it's landing," he says. "My hats off to them for doing this. What's happening on Stage 22 in Burbank is is amazing. Whatever they provide me, I'll be there ready with my go bag."
Season 1 of The Pitt is streaming on Max.
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