Scott Wolf‘s role in the new Fox drama Doc has marked a homecoming for the veteran actor, who became a household name in the ’90s when he starred opposite Matthew Fox and Neve Campbell in the network’s drama Party of Five.
While talking up his latest gig opposite Molly Parker during an Austin TV Festival panel Tuesday, Wolf says he has come “full circle in an amazing way” by starring in a medical drama “that resonates the same way that [Party of Five did] with me.”
Based on a true story, Doc follows Dr. Amy Larsen (Parker), a brilliant but irascible surgeon who forgets the last eight years of her life after she was involved in a car accident. It premiered Jan. 7 on Fox.
“It’s a real gift,” Wolf told the crowd in Austin Tuesday. “The fact that Doc feels like a show that aspires to the same level of emotional engagement and humanity [as Party of Five] is really wonderful.”
Wolf, who plays Dr. Richard Miller, has been established as the drama’s antagonist because he harbors a secret about the way he cared for a patient. Amy was on to him before the accident wiped away her memories (and subsequent distrust for Richard). For now, Amy seems to like Richard.
Molly Parker as Dr. Amy Larsen (Fox).
Christos Kalohoridis/FOX
Wolf was selected for the drama by Doc executive producer Hank Steinberg, who worked with the actor in the short-lived ABC drama The Nine.
“I called the network and said, ‘what if we made the antagonist really cute?” said Steinberg, who joined Wolf on the ATX panel. “We wanted the character to not be someone you automatically hate, but actually somebody who makes you kind of go, there’s a dissonance here between this person who seems to be somebody who you would probably like but they’re acting in this really messed up way. That would give the character a three-dimensionality and keep the audience on their toes. And don’t forget, our main character is very flawed and has done a bunch of things in the past that were not so cool to Scott’s character. So there are lots of flips you’ll see as the show goes on.”
This is Wolf’s fourth opportunity to play a physician, having starred as one in The Night Shift, The Nine, and Everwood. “It’s been fun because it’s been a different type of doctor every time,” Wolf told the crowd. “There’s no mandate that I’ll only play doctors but it keeps happening.”
Wolf also took a moment to reminisce about his time on the ’90s drama from Chris Keyser and Amy Lippman.
“We were like the little show that barely swept into a pilot, barely swept into a pickup,” said Wolf, who in 2023 starred opposite his Party of Five co-star Lacey Chabert in a Hallmark Christmas movie. “It was the best TV show you’re not watching. We were basically the king of the losers. Because of that, all the focus was really on the work, because we could get canceled next Wednesday.”
“There was a moment when Matthew and I went to New York City to do this publicity event for Seventeen magazine,” Wolf continued. “A very young Usher was the musical act. When they introduced us, it was like our Beatlemania moment. It was bananas. We went on stage and heard this collective scream of 15, 16, and 17-year-olds. It was unlike anything we ever experienced. They tore at our clothes. As we walked off stage, we were like, what?”
Doc received a 10-episode order for its first season, which wraps in mid-March.
