The actor opens up to L&rsquo;OFFICIEL about his upcoming role in Paradise and puts those Sabrina Carpenter romance rumors to rest.

There&rsquo;s a new lady in Thomas Doherty&rsquo;s life, and despite what the celebrity rumor mill might tell you, it&rsquo;s not Sabrina Carpenter who has him smitten. It&rsquo;s Daisy Whisky Doherty, a cockapoo that the Scottish actor, 30, brought home five weeks ago. He&rsquo;s quickly embraced his single dog dad era and is currently sourcing suggestions for the pup&rsquo;s first Halloween costume. &ldquo;I like the ones where they look like little humans,&rdquo; he says, laughing. &ldquo;Have you got any ideas?&rdquo;
Halloween won&rsquo;t be the first time that the Tell Me Lies star dresses his canine companion to the nines. On Monday night, in a room at the Bowery Hotel, Doherty styled the impressively cooperative Daisy Whisky in a tiny tartan outfit (hair bow, included) for her red carpet debut at&mdash;what else?&mdash;a whisky launch party for The Glenlivet 12 Year Old Jamaica Edition. Doherty, an ambassador for the Scottish heritage brand, sat down with L&rsquo;OFFICIEL before celebrating the new single malt Scotch at New York City&rsquo;s Flyfish Club. Naturally, he matched the pup in a complementary tartan look by Jamaican-Scottish designer Nicholas Daley, who also styled Doherty and Miss Universe Jamaica Miqueal-Symone Williams for the spirit&rsquo;s <a href="https://youtu.be/EjTrTkice4A?si=ipXPsKgiZJ3fWmwB">&ldquo;Beyond Speyside&rdquo; campaign</a> capturing the essence of hidden paradise&mdash;a concept that, for Doherty, is ever-changing.

Photo courtesy of The Glenlivet.

&ldquo;My idea of paradise has definitely evolved, especially having this little life to look after now,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It's almost hibernation season and I love to read, so I'm really going through all the George Orwell books. So that's my idea of paradise right now.&rdquo; He pauses. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s funny you should say Paradise, though&hellip;&rdquo;&nbsp;
Doherty, of course, is joining the Season 2 cast of Paradise, the buzzy post-apocalyptic Hulu drama starring Sterling K. Brown, James Marsden, and Julianne Nicholson. When the series returns in 2026, fans of the actor&rsquo;s high school- and college-set shows like Gossip Girl and Tell Me Lies might not even recognize him as Link, a character who was simply described as &ldquo;burly man&rdquo; when Doherty auditioned for the part. &ldquo;I'm presented very differently, and I shot it with a beard,&rdquo; he says, adding that the magnitude of the project was unlike anything he&rsquo;d experienced before. &ldquo;It's a post-apocalyptic world with huge heavy hitters&mdash;Oscar winners, Emmy winners&mdash;so it was just a different ball game altogether.&rdquo;
Ahead of Paradise&rsquo;s Season 2 premiere, Doherty is spending time on a smaller set, starring opposite Madeline Brewer in an Off Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors. Performances began in September&mdash;Sabrina Carpenter flew in from Japan for opening night at Doherty&rsquo;s invitation, sparking the aforementioned dating rumors&mdash;and the consistency of the role has the actor feeling settled in New York as he adjusts to pet parenthood. &ldquo;Because I'm doing the show, that means I'm definitely going to be here to raise Daisy out of the puppy years,&rdquo; he says, noting that while the canine has yet to see her dad take the stage at the Westside Theatre, &ldquo;she does hear the warmup for it in the shower every day.&rdquo;
Keep reading for our full interview with Doherty about navigating fame and landing his biggest role yet.

L&rsquo;OFFICIEL: You named your dog Daisy Whisky Doherty, so whisky is obviously important to you. How do you drink yours?&nbsp;
Thomas Doherty: I always take it on ice, with a little bit of water. But you don&rsquo;t even need that with [The Glenlivet 12 Year Old Jamaica Edition]; you can drink it straight. It's the nicest whisky I&rsquo;ve ever had. We actually drank a bottle when we shot the campaign, and it was quite the party. 
But there's just something really special about working with The Glenlivet, because it&rsquo;s so ingrained in me, as a Scotsman, as the top Scotch whisky in the world. My family has done the distilleries; they&rsquo;re proper quintessentially Scottish people. And my dad was here for last year&rsquo;s event, so it's my mom's turn this year. She&rsquo;s here with my brother, who will be wearing a kilt.

L&rsquo;O: How has your style changed since moving to New York to film Gossip Girl?&nbsp;
TD: It's actually quite funny because my brother still lives in Edinburgh, and he thinks I dress insane. But I think it's more mature. There are a lot of more conscious choices. And that&rsquo;s with everything from clothing I wear to the whisky I drink. Everything has just become a lot more intentional.&nbsp;
L&rsquo;O: You made your New York stage debut in Little Shop of Horrors last month. How are you adapting to the Off-Broadway grind so far?
TD: It&rsquo;s a lot. It's definitely the hardest job I've done. But it's been a really beautiful opportunity, in terms of discipline and consistency. With film and TV, you'll do a scene in one day and the challenge is to keep saying the words&mdash;as if for the first time&mdash;for five hours. Whereas this, you have to do the show as if it&rsquo;s the very first time, eight times a week. But I love it so much, and I&rsquo;m working with amazing actors like Madeline Brewer, who&rsquo;s an incredible human being and a phenomenal actor; she&rsquo;s coming tonight, actually. And all of these dancers and singers who are so good at what they do. Being around that energy every day is such a blessing.
L&rsquo;O: And then, of course, Sabrina Carpenter flew in from Japan to see it on opening night&hellip;&nbsp;
TD: She did. [laughs]&nbsp;
L&rsquo;O: Was the cast freaking out? Everyone must have been excited.&nbsp;
TD: Yeah. Well, it was funny, because I knew Sabrina when she wasn't a big pop star, like, mega star. So yeah, she came. And Shailene Woodley came, as well.

L&rsquo;O: You and Shailene are both joining the cast of Paradise for season two. What drew you to the role?&nbsp;
TD: I actually got the breakdown of the character when I wasn't really working; I was doing a lot of auditioning. And the breakdown for this character was &lsquo;burly man.&rsquo; And I was like, For fuck's sake. Burly man, really? I did the audition, then the directors wanted to see me, and after that I flew out to LA and got the part. Then I found out Shailene Woondey was doing it. And in interviews and stuff, you&rsquo;re asked about your top three actors sometimes. For me, it's Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, and Shailene Woodley. So then to be working with her on set&hellip; I've never seen an actor drop into character so quickly and so honestly. It was incredible working with her. And she&rsquo;s the best person.
L&rsquo;O: It sounds like you manifested it.&nbsp;
TD: And, I mean, it's Paradise, you know? The opportunity to work with Sterling K Brown, Julianne Nicholson, James [Marsden], Sarah [Shahi], and with the showrunners and Hulu, it was just a match made in heaven. I can't tell you too much about the character, but it's going to be good. I&rsquo;ve also wanted to work with Dan Fogelman for a while&mdash;I was originally cast in Only Murders [which he executive produces], but they cut the role. And I was kind of gutted when I wasn&rsquo;t able to work with him.
L&rsquo;O: It seems like the Paradise scripts would very much be kept under wraps. Do you know all the twists already?
TD: Yeah&mdash;and again, testament to Dan&mdash;because I&rsquo;ve worked on shows before where you have no idea where it's going to go next. And so it's impossible to create this arc and journey for your character. But Dan would just bring me into his office and tell me. I even know what's going to happen in [a to-be-confirmed] Season 3.&nbsp;

L&rsquo;O: See, now that&rsquo;s what we want to hear more about&hellip;
TD: I mean, get me drunk enough tonight. [Laughs]
L&rsquo;O: Paradise will likely introduce you to a much bigger audience outside the YA realm of Gossip Girl and Tell Me Lies. How does that feel?
TD: It&rsquo;s always weird to think about. Fame and stuff, I don't think our brains are built to do that. Finding a new range of people is always amazing, though, so if Paradise does that, that&rsquo;s great. I'm just so happy and proud of the work I did on that show, so it's kind of redundant, what anyone else says. Because I believed my work. But yeah&hellip; show business, you know? It's a funny beast.&nbsp;
L&rsquo;O: What is your approach to fame? Do you pay attention to the noise and what people are saying about your work or your personal life online?&nbsp;
TD: I always have to be reminded that I am [talked about]. I'm definitely starting to engage with the reality of that a lot more. But no, I don't read anything. God, no.&nbsp;
L&rsquo;O: So when people are shipping you and Sabrina Carpenter, are you laughing it off? Feeding into it? Ignoring it?&nbsp;
TD: I'm not feeding into it. [Laughs] I'm just, like, Where did this come from? It's crazy&mdash;the thing grows arms and legs! No, we're just friends. She's a great girl. She's lovely. And we've only had a few run-ins. I mean, in terms of fame, her level is next level. But I've got an amazing team, amazing friends, and an amazing Scottish family. So I think I'm quite grounded in that. You're human, you know? Of course, your dopamine gets spiked with certain things. But it's amazing to have these people in my life who keep reminding me why I'm doing it, as well. I actually am able to do that myself. I'm really loving my acting right now and I'm really excited about my career.

Photo coutesy of The Glenlivet.

L&rsquo;O: Is there anything you wish you had known when you first started acting?&nbsp;
TD: Yeah, it&rsquo;s in the Baz Luhrmann song &ldquo;Everybody&rsquo;s Free (To Wear Sunscreen).&rdquo; He says, "Don't waste your time on jealousy [&hellip;] The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.&rdquo; But you&rsquo;ve got to learn it, you know? So there's not really anything I would change, because you have to go through it and you have to fuck up and do the wrong thing.&nbsp;
L&rsquo;O: What's your dream role?&nbsp;
TD: I do think that James Bond has to be Scottish soon, because the last James Bond to be Scottish was Sean Connery. So I think it's time.&nbsp;
L&rsquo;O: What do you think is the biggest misconception about you?&nbsp;
TD: I'm more playful and funny than people probably realize.&nbsp;
L&rsquo;O: You turned 30 earlier this year. How does the new decade compare to your 20s so far?
TD: It&rsquo;s amazing. I feel like something changed on the day I turned 30; I think I just like the quiet more now. I love being by myself. I love my own space, and my own time. Just quiet.&nbsp;
L&rsquo;O: What's been your biggest pinch-me moment to date?
TD: Beyonc&eacute; smiled at me once. We passed each other on the stairs and she looked at me and I looked at her and&hellip;[smiles].&nbsp;

Thomas Doherty Is Tuning Out the Hollywood Noise—And Embracing His Alone Time

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