Shawn Hatosy will direct another episode of The Pitt for its third season, adding a behind-the-camera assignment to the run he has already built on the show. He also said he once was asked to audition for Breaking Bad, a part that eventually went to Aaron Paul.
The Pitt season 3
Hatosy is playing Dr. Jack Abbot on The Pitt, and the series has already given him a producing-floor-to-directing path that is rare for a cast member in ongoing TV work. He won the best guest actor in a drama series Emmy for the first season, received a best supporting actor Emmy nomination for the second season, and directed an episode during that same season.
The third-season directing assignment keeps him inside the show’s creative engine rather than limiting him to performance alone. For viewers, that means one of the series’ central faces is also shaping how at least one episode is built, shot, and paced from the other side of the camera.
Breaking Bad and American Beauty
Hatosy said he was not eager to pursue Breaking Bad because AMC, in his view at the time, was not yet a major channel. “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.”
He described a similar near-miss with American Beauty, saying he wanted that part and was in the room for it before the role went to Wes Bentley. He also said Wonder Boys and Cider House Rules were projects he brushed up against while Tobey Maguire was one of the actors he mentioned.
20 years with John Wells
Hatosy said his work with John Wells spans 20 years and five projects, running from ER through The Pitt. He said the ER audition came during a rough personal stretch: “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.”
His first reaction was to resist the audition: “I’m a film actor. I’m not doing that.” After his manager pushed him to reconsider, he changed course: “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.” By the end, he said, “And so at the end of it, I felt really, really good.”
The clean read on the story is simple: Hatosy is no longer just a performer inside The Pitt. He is becoming part of the show’s directing identity too, and that is the more durable career move.
