Doc Season 2 Star Felicity Huffman Teases the Truth About Dr. Joan Ridley

Felicity Huffman is slipping on a lab coat for Fox's Doc, and she is not easing into it quietly. The Emmy winner and Oscar nominee shows up tonight in Season 2, Episode 2 as Dr. Joan Ridley, a character Huffman describes as the kind of brilliant troublemaker you want on your side and maybe not on your bad side. Also, yes, she and Molly Parker's Amy Larsen are going to be a thing — professionally and otherwise.

So, who is Dr. Joan Ridley?

Huffman told Deadline she sees Ridley as an outlier and an iconoclast with a past that might raise eyebrows. Translation: she is very good, a little feral, and has lived a life. Huffman even joked with a very specific mental image about Ridley's backstory:

"I think she probably slept with one of the Rolling Stones and was in Somalia for Black Hawk Down."

Ridley is the kind of doctor who blows in, sizes up the room, and immediately starts reordering the furniture. Which brings her straight to Dr. Amy Larsen.

Why Ridley is back in Amy's orbit

In Huffman's read, Ridley clocks Amy as the David Beckham of medicine — star player energy, team-lifting impact — and decides to champion her. That mutual respect evolves into a friendship. Then Ridley sees an opening at Westside Hospital and grabs it: the chief of internal medicine chair. Her mission statement is not modest. She wants to push Westside to the top tier — best in the state, the country, maybe even globally. Subtlety is not on the chart here, and frankly, that is fun TV.

What makes Doc different? The premise, full stop

Huffman points to the show's DNA: Doc is adapted from Italy's Doc - Nelle tue mani, which itself was inspired by the real-life story of Dr. Pierdante Piccioni. That baked-in, high-concept hook is what pulled her in. She says she would have signed on even if this season were shorter, just because the dramatic engine is that strong.

Season 2 snapshot

• Huffman debuts as Dr. Joan Ridley in Season 2, Episode 2, which airs tonight.
• Her storyline continues through at least the rest of the season.
• Season 2 runs 22 episodes — a throwback-sized order that is 12 more than the 10-episode first season. Huffman notes how rare that is now.
• Doc airs Tuesdays on Fox.

Bottom line: expect Ridley to blow some fresh chaos into Westside while backing Amy like a true believer. It is a sharp addition to a show that lives and dies on its big, very human premise — and Huffman clearly came to play.