Steven Prusakowski
If you’ve been paying close attention, Luke Tennie is suddenly everywhere, appearing across three of television’s best shows as if it’s just standard procedure. What he is doing is no small feat: three roles on three hit series. The actor is wrapping his third season as Sean on Apple TV+’s Shrinking, while making strong recurring debuts on HBO’s award-winning medical drama The Pitt and ABC’s hit comedy Abbott Elementary, another critically acclaimed, award-winning series.
If you somehow haven’t noticed him popping up across the television landscape, it’s because Tennie makes each performance feel so distinct that he disappears into three different people. His ability to fully inhabit such varied roles speaks to both his impressive range and dedication to his craft which may have been influenced by his extensive TV viewing.
When Tennie joined me on the TV Topics podcast, one of the most revealing things he shared was his longtime love of the medium and specifically USA Network shows like Monk, Burn Notice, and Suits, all “procedural with a twist.” Maybe Tennie taking TV by storm is his own twist on a character-driven acting career unrestricted by expectations. (Listen to the full conversation with Luke below.)
One of the powers of Shrinking is how it taps into grief in a way that feels hopeful. This is seen in Sean as his arc reaches new heights in personal healing. The character started the series as a PTSD-suffering former Marine prone to violent snaps who, in a very unorthodox move, ends up moving into his therapist’s (Jimmy’s) pool house, allowing him to work on his healing 24/7. In season three, thanks to Jimmy’s help, Sean is finally ready to spread his wings, returning the keys to Jimmy so he could move to the next stage in life.
Tennie reflected on how this pivotal scene between Sean and Jimmy had him recalling how it mirrored his own real-life experiences on set. “Sean kind of goes in, he gets ready to talk to Jimmy,” Tennie explained. “I remember thinking about the first day I shot with Jason. That first day I shot was everything combat from the first episode. The first time I went to the MMA gym, all the montage sequences at the MMA gym. And then later in the episode where we’re sitting out on the stoop and we have slushies and we’re talking for the first time.”
He noted that this was the moment Sean began to trust Jimmy. “He’s like, ‘Are you supposed to be telling me this?’ … this guy’s breaking the rules to get me to be a better person. I feel like I can trust this guy.”
Tennie described feeling, in character, “This might be the start of something. I really feel like I can lean on this guy,” while simultaneously actually experiencing a blend of Sean’s memories and his own. Both he and Segel were caught off guard by the emotion of the scene. “I had some stuff that snuck up on me there. And Jason said the same thing. He was like, ‘That moment caught me off guard.’ I was like, yeah, ‘Me too.’
“It was really cool because I also think I found a friend in Jason,” Tennie said. “So there are a lot of parallels going on that day. It was very bittersweet.”
When asked about how both he and his character grew through the role, the actor quickly found the parallels. “Oh, for sure,” Tennie said. “I think the main thing that Sean had is, as soon as I identified his mentality, which is sort of, ‘If I have a problem, there’s two ways I’m going to handle it. I’m either going to ignore it and go in the exact opposite direction, or I’m going through it with a bulldozer.’ That’s how he thinks.” It is a soldier-like fight-or-flight mindset.
As the series has progressed, however, the character has developed new emotional tools. “He’s learned, I don’t necessarily have to break through this wall. Maybe this wall just needs to be a different color, so I need to go get a can of paint,” Tennie explained.
Sean has become more creative in how he faces challenges, moving beyond simply bulldozing through them or running away. Instead of avoiding difficult situations entirely, he’s learning to stay present. “I can put myself in this situation but instead of me responding by leaving I can just be here.”
Luckily it has been confirmed that we will be getting a season 4 to see more of Sean’s journey.
Toward the end of season two of HBO’s fan and critical darling The Pitt, Tennie joins the cast as Dr. Crus Henderson, a role that served both as a challenge and a homecoming as he shifted gears to high stakes, fast-paced, jargon-heavy scenes. “I think actors have tools, mainly our face, our body our voice. For me my tools are best used {when} I can rattle that stuff off. That’s the thing I’m closest to – that’s the thing my tools are the sharpest for.” explained Tennie. “The comedy stuff,” he clarified, “Although I did Shrinking first, The Pitt is like what I was born to do.”
To portray the highly competent Crus, Tennie drilled complex medical terminology relentlessly, using a clicker to track repetitions so he could deliver lines with practiced ease on set. He emphasized that once the jargon is internalized, the real work begins, uncovering the human stakes beneath the medical setting.
Tennie found much more subtext to help drive his performance. A scene that on the surface looks to be about saving a patient, he sees it as actually about another doctor’s insecurities. (The other doctor is Dr. Langdon, played by Patrick Ball – coming soon TV Topics). Tennie embraced his role as a supporting player, understanding that his job was to serve the story and Langdon’s journey rather than push himself forward.
“What’s really going on in that scene isn’t Crus helping this kid be able to breathe,” Tennie said. “What’s really going on is Langdon has had doubts about his capabilities since returning back. Crus, a night shift doctor who’s the same year as him, which means he used to be ahead of Crus and now Crus is on the same year. He’s moving at a much more efficient pace than Langdon and he’s correct. And he’s actually saving this kid’s life instead of endangering it. Langdon could have popped his lung. He’s looking at Crus like, ‘Wait a second. Am I not the right guy for this job anymore?’ And Crus’s competence and efficiency has to be the thing to set that off. That’s what the scene is about. It’s not really about whether or not Crus is gonna save this kid. It’s about what’s going through Langdon’s mind.”
The rapid pivot from delivering laughs on Abbott Elementary one week to performing intense, life-and-death scenes the next pushed Tennie to quickly shift across characters and genres, allowing his strengths to shine.
“I had wrapped the episode of Abbott like on a Wednesday and I went to work on The Pitt Monday. It’s like a crazy difference and they’re different in age like Dom is like 22, fresh out of college,” explained Tennie. “And then you got freaking Crus who’s my age”
If you do not recognize Tennie at first it is probably due to the clean shave that quickly removes a decade off his look, perfect for the rookie teacher starting at Abbott. “This guy was just kind of out of his depth. The kind of guy who didn’t really know that working at Abbott meant sacrificing your entire mental health to teach these kids. I didn’t know if he was gonna be around the whole season. I thought maybe he would have a breaking point because it was just too crazy working at Abbott with no money, no support”
“With Abbott, it was a little easier for me to get started because Dom was getting started. There’s a little bit of newness in the reality of the scene that I don’t have to act because I’m new here. I’m meeting a lot of these people for the first time,” Tennie shared. “So I can just have sort of sincere reactions to people.”
As a TV lover, Tennie is not only all over your television, he is all over his… watching it. During his time on TV Topics podcast, the actor shared a long list of shows he enjoyed over the years. Transforming from a film fan to a TV fan, he embraced the medium and it shaped his taste in character-driven stories, teaching him about acting and comedy through his keen observation.
We discussed the span and influence of his television viewing. This includes his early love of superheroes and how it is a type of role he would be interested in today, with one caveat. The studio needs to be patient enough to give him the time to transform his body, “I look like an offensive lineman,” playfully admits Tennie.
It is one of the most enjoyable, passionate TV Topics that may leave you, just like Tennie and his family, saying “Wooooow” (One Tree Hill style). From the personal stories of shared TV experience to his declaration that his biggest tv goal is to do some “family media” the type of entertainment they can watch together; uniting families like some of the shows he shared with his family did for him.
When they announce The Luke Tennie Show, I am all in.
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