When Leo (Thomas Doherty) is introduced in Episode 1 of Season 2 of Hulu’s Tell Me Lies, he’s recently back from studying abroad in Paris. He’s introduced to Lucy (Grace Van Patten), and their chemistry is off the charts. Their first date is filled with adorable banter. But since this is one of television’s most deranged shows (complimentary), Leo isn’t exactly what he seems.
At the end of Episode 2, Leo and Lucy are having a cute coffee date when Lucy bumps into a random guy spilling coffee on him. Leo has an aggressive reaction to the accident. In truly Tell Me Lies fashion, Leo headbutts the guy.
It’s a shocking moment, but within a show that constantly pushes the envelope, Leo headbutting a random a--hole feels a bit innocuous.
Tell Me Lies, based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Carola Lovering, follows the psychotic relationship between Lucy and Stephen (Jackson White), which begins in college in 2007 and continues to get more and more twisted over eight years. It’s a delicious confection, like if The WB met a late night ’90s, Fox-era late night soap. Season 2 arrives two years after the show’s 2022 premiere, where we were first introduced to the Lucy and Stephen friend group at the fictional Baird College—and all of their incestuous group dynamics.
Grace Van Patten and Thomas Doherty in Tell Me Lies
DisneyOver Zoom, Doherty tells The Daily Beast’s Obsessed that he’d been a fan of the show before he was cast. After a call from his agent telling him that the series was casting a new role, he re-binged the show. His character Leo, rage issues aside, is Lucy’s new love interest and a perfect foil to Stephen, who, simply put, is a complete sociopath. But at first, especially after seeing that headbutt, that refreshing sanity is not yet apparent.
When asked about the headbutt, Doherty jokes that this is when his PR training comes in: “In Scotland, where I’m from, it’s not called a headbutt. In Glasgow it's called a Glasgow kiss. If you ever go to Scotland and anyone ever offers to give you a Glasgow kiss—run.”
Doherty’s Leo adds a new dimension to the Lucy and Stephen relationship this season—giving the lovers’ unshakeable bond an actual romantic obstacle. Doherty’s not new to drama, or a complicated relationship, after playing the pansexual lothario Max Wolfe on the dearly missed Gossip Girl reboot. He gushes about the process of working on Tell Me Lies—first having met Van Patten for a coffee before their chemistry read and subsequently landing the part of Leo.
Leo is sort of the odd man out in a show that’s filled with pretty unlikeable people. Despite the headbutting of it all, Leo’s a guy who is desperately trying to make himself better and is open and honest about his feelings. That’s something he was drawn to. “I’m 29, but I remember seeing a lot of myself in Leo at that age, that angst and desire to want to be better, to be a good person. That self-improvement, but not quite there yet. There’s nothing better than that when you’re an actor, when you connect on a deeper level with the character and you can infuse your own life experiences into this character.”
He also credits a lot of Leo to working with Van Patten, noting that as a viewer and knowing Lucy’s situation with Stephen, it’s going to initially be hard to trust Leo, especially after that headbutt. “Working with Grace, I was like, if I could do the rest of my career working with Grace, I’d be a happy man. She’s unbelievable. Incredible actor, incredible human,” he says, noting that he actually worked with Grace’s younger sister on Gossip Girl. He jokes he’s going to continue to work with all the Van Pattens in the future.
Thomas Doherty, Evan Mock, and Alyn Lind in Gossip Girl
MaxLeo is the anti-Stephen in many different ways. Coupled with Doherty’s God-given jawline, you want to root for Lucy and Leo to make it, despite Lucy’s proclivities for destroying anything good that comes her way. Doherty can’t get too in the weeds about what’s ahead for Leo, but he notes that the character adds something new to the show’s Baird College group.
“Leo is striving to be honest and to be a good person who doesn’t want to get involved in any of the politics and is definitely on that journey of self betterment,” he says. “And that’s an amazing thing about the show as well, because no matter who you are, what age you are, you can definitely see yourself in at least one of the characters. I think Leo brings this different dynamic to the group that's already there and it is refreshing.”
Aside from getting to live out his American college fantasies, since Doherty attended college in Scotland—“I was like ahhh the red cups!,” he giggles about the standard red solo cup of choice for college keggers—he also gets to do some comedy. That’s one of the other attractive things about Leo in comparison to Stephen, he’s funny and light in contrast to Stephen’s dark cloud, slightly Eeyore-esque energy.
That’s what stands out on their first date in Episode 2 Lucy and Leo have adorable banter about how evil Stephen is, trading dark jokes about him killing dogs (which honestly seems like something he wouldn’t not do). Comedy is something that Doherty wants to do more of. He mentions how funny everyone on the Tell Me Lies cast is, despite the heaviness of the show.
Earlier this year, Doherty sunk his “fox teeth”—more on that in a minute—into playing the Harry Styles-esque Gray Holland on a three episode arc on the third season of the criminally underwatched and hilarious Girls5Eva about an aughts girl group who reunites and tries for musical fame again in their forties.
Paula Pell as Gloria and Thomas Doherty in Girls5eva
Emily V. Aragones/NetflixDressed as a trucker to be anonymous from his fame, Gray meets Gloria (Paula Pell) at the comfort food faux Italian chain Macaroni Rascals. Upon realizing she has no idea who he is, he strikes up a friendship with her that ends up leading him to meet the rest of the group. Doherty is hilarious on the show, and also sings all of his songs, which if you are a viewer of the series, you probably have on a playlist somewhere.
Doherty had a blast working on the show, even though it was a bit intimidating working with such iconic comedic and musical theater actors.
He mentions there were times that he had to ask Renée Elise Goldsberry or Pell to not look at him directly to keep himself from laughing. Working with Pell, who he had a majority of his scenes with was a particular treat. “I love that woman. She's just amazing. What you see is what you get. She's so renowned and so successful, but she's just so humble. Such a beautiful woman and just so funny,” he says.
Doherty’s storyline as Gray Holland ends with one of the more horrific sights of 2024 when Gloria helps him to leave his stardom by faking his death and replacing his real teeth with a set of fox teeth, which Doherty kept and has somewhere in the new apartment in Brooklyn he just moved into.
As one might assume, singing a song while in fox teeth with a full beard wasn’t the easiest. “I think we did it in one take. It was so hard to perform, and the teeth were actually really jaggy. It was so painful but it was really quick. Then we had the beard and stuff as well. I put the teeth in and I just looked like a mental case. It's absolutely ridiculous,” Doherty says, laughing.
Aside from just getting to work with comedy legends and musical theater icons, he also got to meet his celebrity crush. “Growing up I had the biggest crush on Sara Bareilles. I never told her that. When she released ‘Love Song,’ 13-year-old Thomas was like, ‘Oh be still my beating heart.’ I still listen to that song hundreds of times. I was in love with this woman and I remember walking onto set for the first day and seeing her being like, ‘Hi.’ [And thinking that she’s thinking] ‘Who’s this weird grown-ass man?’”
Both Girls 5Eva and Tell Me Lies are the types of projects that Doherty gravitates to for his work, but also are the kinds of series he wants to watch himself. He likes things that allow the viewer to disappear into the worlds of the story, a respite from the day to day mundanities of real life.
As for Leo coming back for a potential season three of Tell Me Lies, he jokes about getting a billboard put up to convince them to bring him back. Asking him what he thinks that viewers should take from watching this new season of the show, he recommends drinking a cup of chamomile tea to calm the nerves while watching and offers sage advice: “Don't headbutt people and don’t date Lucy.”
