NEED TO KNOW
- Felicity Huffman joins the cast of the Fox medical series Doc as Dr. Joan Ridley, the new chief of internal medicine at fictional Westside Hospital
- Ridley is the former mentor of Dr. Amy Larsen (Molly Parker), who is rebuilding her life following a car accident that wiped her memories of the previous eight years
- Ridley wants to make Westside “one of the best in the world,” says Huffman
The doctors at Westside Hospital are getting a dose of strong medicine.
Shortly after Felicity Huffman’s Dr. Joan Ridley scrubs in on episode 2 of Fox’s hit series Doc, she accepts a top job as the chief of internal medicine — the position formerly held by her mentee Dr. Amy Larsen (Molly Parker).
Once installed, she warns the staff, “In two months there will be an official evaluation. Some of you will not survive it.”
Joan isn’t being unnecessarily harsh — she has an endgame in mind.
“When she takes over the job of the chief of internal medicine, she’s decided that she’s going to take this hospital to the Super Bowl. She wants it to be the best in the state or the best in the country, or one of the best in the world. And in order to do that, everybody has to be excellent,” Huffman, 62, says in PEOPLE’s new digital cover story on the series.
The Emmy-winning Desperate Housewives alum says her character is just as hard on herself, sacrificing her personal life for the sake of her career.
“She’s dedicated her life to work, and I think that’s a cost that women have to pay,” she continues. “I think men dedicate their lives to work, and actually, they have a family to go home to. And women hold up the infrastructure, but when women do it, it costs them, and it has cost Joan.”
Having a familiar presence like Joan at Westside Hospital is a helpful tool for Amy, who’s still rebuilding her life after the season 1 car crash that left her with a traumatic brain injury, wiping her memories of the previous eight years.
Among the events Amy forgot: her divorce from chief medical officer Michael Hamda (Omar Metwally) years prior, her recent hush-hush workplace romance with Dr. Jake Heller (Jon-Michael Ecker) and the death of her son, the event that drove the brilliant doctor away from Michael — and towards the job of chief (which she lost due to the accident).
Now that Amy is back as a full-fledged doctor (she had to take the medical boards once more to regain her license), Joan is eager to push her former star student to be the best she can be.
“Dr. Larson is one of the best things Joan’s ever been involved in,” says Huffman. “I think she’s so in awe of her. Dr. Larson is her David Beckham. Her Steve Jobs.”
So when Amy’s best friend, Westside neuropsychiatrist Gina Walker (Amirah Vann) helps Amy try to regain more of her memory — she puts her in a sensory deprivation tank, for example — Joan takes issue.
“Some of the treatments that Gina is doing, I think jeopardize — from Joan’s point of view — her ability to actually practice medicine. Which is what we’re here to do,” explains Huffman.
The actress says joining the cast of a series already in full swing stirred up different emotions. “On one hand, you’re the new kid in school and who do you have lunch with?” she says. “And on the other hand, it’s up and going and it’s full of excellent actors and a wonderful crew and a creative team, so you’re happy to be put on the field with them.”
Doc airs on Fox on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
This article was written independently by PEOPLE’s editorial team and meets our editorial standards. Fox is a paid advertising partner with PEOPLE.
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