Being any type of public servant means coming into contact with all sorts of people. Teachers meet students with young minds eager to learn. Restaurant servers feed hungry patrons. In Steve Carell’s case, he plays Alan Strauss, a psychotherapist in The Patient who naturally has patients in need of therapy – one in need of deep, deep therapy as seen in the newly unveiled FX trailer for its upcoming 10-episode series The Patient. Written by the co-creators of The Americans, the thriller is set to start streaming on the Hulu platform on August 30.

Starring alongside The Office actor in the series are David Alan Grier as his old therapist, Andrew Leeds as Strauss’ estranged son, Linda Emond as Candance, Laura Niemi as his recently deceased wife and Domhnall Gleeson as psycho patient Sam. Watch the trailer below, courtesy of FX Networks on YouTube.

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As Carell’s character notes, “Successful therapy requires a safe environment.” Clearly. The show’s official description reads:

Although Carell’s character is struggling with demons of own to include visions of people lying in bed next to him, he admits,

“In order to survive, Alexander must unwind Sam’s disturbed mind and stop him from killing again… but Sam refuses to address critical topics, like his mother Candace. Alone in captivity, Alexander excavates his own past through memories of his old therapist, Charlie, and grapples with waves of his own repressed troubles – the recent death of his wife, Beth, and the painful estrangement from his religious son, Ezra.”

He agrees to take Sam as a new client after the disturbed young man begs and points out that he’s not normal, wants an expert and needs to get better. Indeed. As Sam despairs before his frightening admission,

“My whole life, I have been trying to figure myself out, so I can help other people understand themselves, so they can have good relationships, and here I am.”

With a compulsion to kill people, Sam has bigger problems than Alexander and needs to curb those homicidal urges. Will Alexander be able to help Sam and ultimately himself?

“I’m not content. I…get angry. That’s the sort of thing you help people with, right?”

While Netflix recently canceled Steve Carell’s comedy series Space Force after two seasons, the actor will be seen in the comedy fantasy film Imaginary Friends, which is due for release on November 17, 2023, and is helmed by his The Office co-star John Krasinski.