Jason Patric moves to 'Wayward Pines' for second season

By joining “Wayward Pines,” Jason Patric is moving into new territory in multiple ways.

The movie and theater actor — and grandson of television icon Jackie Gleason — makes his series debut in Season 2 of Fox's eerie, M. Night Shyamalan-produced suspense show based on Blake Crouch's books when it begins Wednesday, May 25. Succeeding previous star Matt Dillon, Patric plays Dr. Theo Yedlin, a maritally troubled Boston surgeon new to the Idaho town where the young First Generation is in control and threatens the elders ... and the rest of the human race.

“Homeland” alum Nimrat Kaur plays Yedlin's wife Rebecca, and Djimon Hounsou also joins the cast as CJ Mitchum, a founding resident of Wayward Pines. First-season returnees include Terrence Howard, Carla Gugino, Hope Davis, Toby Jones and Oscar winner Melissa Leo.

“It's a challenge, there's no question,” Patric says of his new undertaking. “I've spent over 30 years doing stage and screen, where I have a two-hour arc. I understand what that is and where it goes, and how to add things and how to be fresh with it. To do something that goes 10 episodes and 10 hours is different.”

Patric says he is “trying to find the behavioral realism” of his character, but that can be challenging given the show's surreal nature. He acknowledges that Theo is “put in an extraordinary situation that strains belief.”

While TV work may be new to Patric — star of “Rush,” “The Lost Boys” and “Narc” — show biz certainly runs in his family. Patric's father is the late actor and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Jason Miller. His mother, Linda Miller, starred with Ralph Waite in the early-1980s CBS show “The Mississippi.” And Patric has nothing but respect for Gleason's legacy, built on the classic sitcom “The Honeymooners” and a long-running CBS variety show.

“I've always eschewed any form of nepotism, so I never spoke about” that family tie, Patric reflects. “Some of my peers had familial connections that I found they exploited, and that's fine, but it's not something I ever wanted. I've forged a different path, and it just doesn't come up, so it's not as if I hide it. (Gleason) was absolutely a 20th-century genius, one of a small group in that pantheon of entertainment who went beyond that and became a cultural phenomenon.”

Pleased to see his career getting “a rebirth” after several years largely spent away from it, Patric watched only the “Wayward Pines” pilot before starting work on the show, since he wanted the same sense of freshness his alter ego has in the situation. “You're forced to be on your toes and be present, because every moment is something new and you don't know what's going to happen next.”