The Patient

Main

• Steve Carell as Dr. Alan Strauss, a therapist mourning the recent death of his wife^[1]
  • Jackson Dollinger as young Alan Strauss
• Domhnall Gleeson as Sam Fortner, a serial killer, new patient of Alan's, and fan of Kenny Chesney. He also works as a restaurant inspector.^[1]
• Linda Emond as Candace Fortner, Sam's mother, who is aware of the situation^[1]

Recurring

• Andrew Leeds as Ezra Strauss, the son of Alan and Beth, estranged after he became an Orthodox Jew^[1]
• Laura Niemi as Beth Strauss, the recently deceased wife of Alan who died of cancer and was a beloved cantor at her community's Reform synagogue^[1]
• Alan Blumenfeld as Chaim Benjamin
• Alex Rich as Elias, a man held captive by Sam and the trigger for why Sam sought out Dr. Strauss
• David Alan Grier as Charlie Addison, Alan's former therapist^[1]

Development

In October 2021, The Patient was officially announced and given a ten-episode order by FX on Hulu. Steve Carell was confirmed as the lead star, playing a therapist held captive by a serial killer, and also served as one of the series' executive producers. The series was created by Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg, who are also credited as showrunners and co-writers for each episode. Other executive producers include Caroline Moore, Victor Hsu and Chris Long, with Long also taking on directing duties for several episodes.^[2][3][4][5]

Casting

Alongside the announcement of The Patient in October 2021, Steve Carell was confirmed to star in and executive produce the series.^[2] In January 2022, Domhnall Gleeson, Linda Emond, Laura Niemi, and Andrew Leeds were added to the cast.^[5][6] The following month, Alex Rich and David Alan Grier joined the series in recurring roles.^[7][8]

Filming

Filming for The Patient began in mid-January 2022 in Los Angeles.^[9]

Critical response

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Patient holds an 89% approval rating based on 63 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While The Patient might test viewers' patience by overextending its killer conceit, the arguably career-best work by Carell and Domhnall Gleeson make this therapy session worth eavesdropping on."^[13] On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score, the series has a rating of 74 out of 100 based on 30 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[14]

For RogerEbert.com, Nick Allen gave it a rating of 2 out of 4 stars, and praised Carell for his "contemplative performance" but criticized Gleeson as too "monotone". Allen also critiqued the show's pacing, stating that it "is a long journey to create empathy in the darkest of minds, but overall it makes for an overlong, dull mind game."^[15] For The Guardian, Lucy Mangan graded it 3 out of 5 stars and commended Carell for his "absolutely faultless" performance, but criticized it for being "a bit too slow and repetitive".^[16]

Accolades

Audience viewership

The Patient performed strongly in streaming rankings. According to Whip Media, which tracks viewership data from over 21 million global users via its TV Time app, the series debuted as the ninth most-streamed original in the U.S. during the week of September 4, 2022.^[22] It later rose to sixth place by the week of October 9 and climbed to fifth place the week of October 23. By the week of October 30, it reached third place.^[23][24][25]

Reelgood, which tracks real-time streaming data from 5 million U.S. users, reported The Patient as the eighth most-watched show by August 31, 2022.^[26] By September 9, it had moved up to fourth place.^[27] Additionally, JustWatch, which collects data from over 20 million users globally, ranked the series as the third most-streamed in the U.S. between September 5–12.^[28]