Scott Wolf has played several TV doctors — but does that mean his loved ones now ask him for medical advice?
“I’ve played a doctor four times. I should get a degree from someplace,” Wolf, 56, joked during an exclusive interview with Us Weekly about his new Fox series Doc. “Thankfully for [my family] they don’t [ask for my medical advice].”
Before scoring the role of Dr. Richard Miller on Fox’s upcoming medical drama, Wolf played medical professionals on Everwood, The Nine and The Night Shift.
“I do diagnose family members, to their great annoyance,” he quipped. “One of the great things about being an actor is you get to — sort of through osmosis — absorb these worlds. None of this is making any of us real doctors. This is the fourth time I’ve played a doctor and some stuff sticks in there.”
Wolf noted how important it was to honor real doctors, adding, “It matters to me a lot and it matters to everyone in this production that we honor the work that these life-saving heroes are doing in real life.”
Doc, which premieres on Tuesday, January 7, is based on Italian TV series Nelle tue mani about a doctor who loses her memory in a car accident and wakes up to find her entire life has changed. Molly Parker leads the cast alongside Wolf, Omar Metwally, Amirah Vann, Jon Ecker, Anya Banerjee and Patrick Walker.
“[My doctor character on Doc] is my No. 1 favorite in terms of my enjoyment of the complexity,” Wolf told Us.”I’ve gotten to explore these different medical worlds playing doctors. But I’ve never had a more fun, interesting, complicated and sometimes painful character to play. And to be back working with Fox again after I started with Party of Five [in the ’90s], they are two of my favorite experiences by far. It is full circle in some fun ways.”
Despite playing “a flawed human being” on Doc, Wolf has been enjoying the challenge.
“Any actor will tell you that you always have to find justification and understanding and empathy for the characters you’re playing. But in this case, it wasn’t like I had to figure out how to justify a bad guy doing bad things,” the actor clarified. “This was a very good person who any of us could wind up being. But with his circumstances, he winds up in this terrible situation where a mistake has happened and his reaction to it is to just get protective.”
Wolf teased Us that Richard’s arc — and Doc as a series — will “constantly surprise” viewers, saying, “It is so well-written and I’m a huge fan of hospital shows, But obviously this central premise is so interesting, and the character development is incredible. The whole point is to create characters and tell stories that engage people.”
He continued: “Sometimes it can take time and the very first episode of a show can make you come away feeling like you only scratch the surface. … I didn’t know what direction they were going to head in all of them, but it’s amazing to read something and feel like I’ll play any character in this show.”
Doc airs on Fox Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET and new episodes stream the next day on Hulu.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
