Shawn Hatosy on The Pitt, Calls for a Night Shift Spinoff

Shawn Hatosy is a first-rate actor who has been in the business for more than 35 years, working on screens big and small, but primarily making his name on TV drama series.

Hatosy memorably played an L.A. cop on Southland, which ran from 2009 through 2013, and for which he was nominated for a Critics Choice Award. He was a twisted ex-con on Animal Kingdom, which ran from 2016 through 2022. And, since 2025, he has been playing Dr. Jack Abbot, a former combat medic turned attending physician working the night shift at a Pittsburgh hospital, on HBO Max’s The Pitt, winning the best guest actor in a drama series Emmy for the show’s first season, and landing a currently-pending Emmy nom for best supporting actor in a drama series for its second season, during which he also directed an episode of the massively acclaimed show.

Over the course of a conversation at the L.A. offices of The Hollywood Reporter, the 50-year-old reflected on his entry into the business in his early teens while he was living in the Baltimore area; his relocation to New York and then L.A., where, in his 20s, he was in particularly high demand for teen-targeted projects; what sparked his lengthy collaboration with TV creator John Wells, which now spans 20 years and five projects, from ER through The Pitt; how he feels about calls for a Pitt-spinoff about the titular hospital’s night shift; plus more.

You can listen to the full conversation via the audio player above or read excerpts of it — lightly edited for clarity and brevity — below.

On early parts that got away…

“There were so many actors that I would brush up against. Tobey Maguire was one of them — Wonder Boys was a big one, and Cider House Rules. American Beauty [the part eventually played by Wes Bentley] was something that I was really wanted — everybody wanted that, and I remember being in the room on that one… I remember getting asked to audition for Breaking Bad [the part eventually played by Aaron Paul], and it was not a time where AMC was anything — Mad Men hadn’t even come out yet — so I wasn’t jumping up and down to do that.”

On the beginning of his special relationship with TV creator John Wells…

“I was going through a rough patch personally at that time, and I just was not taking great care of myself. I was drinking a lot and I had just become a father. The ER audition came and I was still in that mindset of, ‘I’m a film actor. I’m not doing that.’ And my manager said, ‘You should take a look at this role. This is a good role. And John’s directing it. And the ones that he directs, they’re really special.’ So I looked at it, and he was right. I went in and had a really great audition for a very challenging role — he’s multiple personalities, and there’s a lot of range in those three characters that I got to play, and it was juicy. I remember doing it. I remember the feeling of how John created space for me to take big risks… And so at the end of it, I felt really, really good. And I reached out and I sent him [Wells] a card and said, ‘I just really enjoyed that. And if something else comes up…’ I’m sure he’s had 7,000 of those letters, but I’m glad I did it.”

On NBC’s decision to cancel Wells’ Southland, on which Hatosy starred with Ben McKenzie, after one season had aired and a second season had already been largely shot…

“We had already shot six episodes of season two. We were airing in like three weeks, and they just canceled us. I’ve never been more shocked in my life, honestly. When I got that phone call, we hadn’t even aired season two, and they canceled us. And I knew what was in the chamber, I knew what kind of television we were making. So it was a big surprise. And then TNT came in and rescued it. I think it was great because it sort of shrunk the show. But it was very complicated for us actors. First of all, some of the actors didn’t make it to TNT because they did have to shrink it. I was one of the characters that was on the fence, so I sort of got reduced salary-wise… It was like a good year and a half before we came back up to production. So it was really a terrifying time.”

On why he experienced the driest stretch of his career after his acclaimed work on Animal Kingdom…

“It’s a really good question. I think part of it is a result of how the business shifted from in-room casting to self-tape, because I think that actors have a superpower when they’re coming into a room, [whereas] I’ll see a self-tape and you have no idea, ‘How many takes did they do? Is it four hours?’ [I struck out with self-tapes by the] dozens — like over 60, probably more.”

On the dichotomy of Dr. Abbot on The Pitt…

“There’s nothing he hasn’t seen, and not only in the ER — he’s a combat veteran and he’s lost his leg, so he’s seen the worst nightmares imaginable to a human being, and that doesn’t phase him. Nothing phases him anymore. And you have two guys [Abbot and Robby] who, when it comes to medicine, there’s nothing they can’t solve. They can do anything. They know what to prescribe. But when they’re dealing with their mental health, they are lost. And that’s just a beautiful, sad truth.”

On landing his first Emmy nomination — and winning — for season one of The Pitt…

“I get emotional thinking about it. Just learning that I was nominated really nailed me — emotionally, I was overwhelmed, I was so thrilled. And then to go through that whole experience and have Ron Howard [announce me as the winner and hand me the statuette]? He’s somebody that I look up to. As a kid, when I would stay home from school he was on my TV on The Andy Griffith Show, and when I would come home from school Happy Days was in rerun. That guy is so important to me. Yeah, that was a huge, huge moment. And I won an Emmy before Noah [laughs — Hatosy was presented with his Emmy at one of the Creative Arts Awards ceremonies, whereas Wyle won best actor in a drama series later at the Primetime ceremony].

On the future of Dr. Abbot and the possibility of a night shift spinoff…

“You’d have to ask [the show’s creators]. I’m not sure. They’ve really done really a nice job in writing him, and I love playing him, so in whatever capacity they need him I’ll be there, including a night shift spinoff or, if they want to spend more time with the night shift during the day shift, that’s fine.”

On directing another episode of The Pitt for its forthcoming third season…

“I actually started directing Friday. Yeah, my first day of production. Number five.”

On his future beyond The Pitt…

“I’m still working at getting parts. Nothing’s handed over, and I’m OK with that. I like working. I like proving myself. I’m definitely having conversations with people that I probably wasn’t going to be having before. I just did a great show called Cry Wolf with Olivia Colman and Brie Larson — Sarah Treem is the showrunner, it’s a limited series for FX, and I’m very excited. And I don’t know that I would’ve been in the conversation if it weren’t for The Pitt.”