The Pitt star, 55, succeeds Jonathan Bailey and says he first thought the news was a prank.
Noah Wyle has been named People's 2026 Sexiest Man Alive, the magazine announced on Tuesday. Wyle, who plays Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch in HBO's The Pitt, succeeds Jonathan Bailey, who held the title for 2025 and was the first openly gay man to receive it. The title was first awarded to Mel Gibson in 1985, and this is its 41st year.
Wyle told People he was in disbelief when he got the news. According to the magazine, it took his wife, Sara, 46, to convince him he was in fact Sexiest Man Alive material. Wyle said of her: "She thinks I'm a good guy and that the kind of person that I am and the kind of father I am, the kind of husband I am, is worth promoting." He added: "I thought, 'Okay, if you say so.'" Not to mention, he added, "she was very pleased that this reflects well on her taste."
Asked whether anything would be different now, Wyle answered: "I hope this changes everything. I hope it's just wine and roses, milk and honey from here on out. [Laughs] No, I don't, but I am going to take a lot of ribbing from friends and family for sure."
His children had their own reactions. Wyle said his son, Owen, reacted with: "Oh, this is going to make my life so much harder now. But that's cool, Dad. But also, you invite a lot of haters too." His older daughter, Auden, was just like: "No way, no way." Owen and Auden are Wyle's children with his ex-wife, Tracy Warbin. His youngest, Frances, is 11 and is his daughter with Sara.
George Clooney, Wyle's ER costar, joked at the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards in January that the organization should run a "sexiest man still alive" issue. He said he would nominate Wyle as the first guy, adding: "When I grow up, I want to be Noah Wyle." Asked what Clooney would make of the news, Wyle said: "I think he'll be amused and feel, hopefully, like a proud papa, that I've come of gray-haired age."
Wyle first came to TV audiences as Dr. John Carter on NBC's ER, alongside Anthony Edwards, Sherry Stringfield and Julianna Margulies. Despite never winning, Wyle picked up three Golden Globe nods and five Emmy nods across the show's run. In the '90s, People put him on the cover of its "Sexy Men of ER" issue with costars George Clooney, Eriq La Salle and Anthony Edwards. Clooney went on to win Sexiest Man Alive twice, but as the magazine now puts it: "Somehow we let him get away."
His portrayal of Robby across the two seasons of The Pitt won him the Golden Globe for best performance by a male actor in a television series, drama, in 2026, and back-to-back Emmys for best actor in a drama series in 2025 and 2026. Wyle told Deadline in July that the third season would be different in one way: it will not be set at the time viewers are watching. "Up until now, we've plotted our show almost in real time when people are watching," he said. "We didn't do that this season. What we're depicting is Thursday, November 12, 2026, and it will be aired in January of 2027."
HBO's first look at the third season, released in August, confirms Dr. Robby will return to his job.
No comments yet