‘Tell Me Lies’ Thomas Doherty On Playing Leo And Working With The Van Patten Sisters

Tell Me Lies is back, baby! And during the two-episode Season 2 premiere on September 4, creator Meaghan Oppenheimer’s addicting Hulu drama introduced several compelling new characters, including Leo, played by Scottish actor Thomas Doherty.

That’s right, folks. Tom Ellis’ hot professor Oliver isn’t the only new love interest at school. The Season 2 premiere also introduces Evan’s friend Leo, a Baird College student who was studying abroad in Paris and returned with his sights set on Lucy (Grace Van Patten).

So what was it like joining Tell Me Lies‘ incredibly dramatic sophomore season? “It was amazing. It was really, really amazing,” Doherty told Decider via Zoom. “I’m very apprehensive when I join a very well-connected and established cast, but I came in, I pulled up, everyone was so lovely, so warm, so welcoming, and just made it really, really easy for me.”

Though Doherty had the opportunity to act alongside multiple cast members in Season 2’s college scenes, his main on-screen partner was Van Patten. And while Doherty hadn’t worked with Grace prior to Tell Me Lies, the two shared a crucial connection: Grace’s sister Anna Van Patten, who Doherty worked with on Gossip Girl.

“I’d actually just worked with Grace’s little sister in Gossip Girl, and I obviously asked Anna what her sister was like. She obviously told me she was amazing,” Doherty said with a smile.

The 29-year-old actor explained that when he flew to Los Angeles to do his Tell Me Lies chemistry read with Van Patten, he expecting to meet Lucy and was pleasantly surprised to learn his future co-star was much more warm and welcoming than her character. “She was such a good actor and I thought that’s who she was. And I pulled up to the coffee shop prior, just to feel her energy and kind of see where she was at. And she was so lovely and bubbly,” Doherty told Decider, adding that Van Patten flashed a huge grin and waved at him on sight.

“I was telling her I was really, really not expecting that. I was expecting to meet Lucy,” Doherty said. “And the chemistry read went really, really well. And I was like, ‘I’d love to work with this girl and work with Meaghan [Oppenheimer] as well. After watching the first season, all these guys were such good actors and so good at what they do, and their craft, and it’s been a real privilege to be welcomed into this family; into this world.”

Throughout Season 2’s first two episodes Leo and Lucy flirt, go on a date, kiss, and bond over their shared dislike of Stephen (Jackson White). It’s safe to assume Lucy’s ex and her new man will have some conflict down the line, but Tell Me Lies star Jackson White told Decider he loved getting to work with Doherty.

“It was cool. He’s really more of a Lucy hang. But it was cool. He’s hilarious. It was really, really fun,” White told Decider, teasing more scenes between Stephen and Leo down the line.

Doherty’s character is hot, sweet, and empathetic, but based on Tell Me Lies’ whole vibe, he seems too good to be true. By the end of Episode 2, Leo shatters that picture-perfect vision by unexpectedly head-butting a man who was rude to Lucy in a coffee shop.

We’ll have to keep watching to see what’s in store for Lucy and Leo, but in true Tell Me Lies fashion it’s a safe bet to brace for more drama ahead.

New episodes of Tell Me Lies premiere Wednesdays on Hulu.