October 23: The Doctor Is In (the Running)

Three decades after he first scrubbed in on ER, Noah Wyle is the surprise favorite for pop culture’s most talked-about title.

People magazine is expected to name its 2026 Sexiest Man Alive by the end of October, and one name has pulled far ahead of the field. Prediction market traders have made Noah Wyle, the 55-year-old star of The Pitt, the clear favorite, with Kalshi putting his chances at about 85% this week. Bad Bunny, who led the betting for most of the year, has fallen well behind. Not everyone is happy about it.

The Doctor Will See You Now

Wyle’s rise has been building since The Pitt premiered in 2025. His performance as Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, the overworked head of a Pittsburgh emergency room, won him both the Golden Globe and the Emmy for best actor in a drama series this year, and made him an unlikely internet crush along with co-star Shawn Hatosy. Earlier this fall, betting sites listed Wyle as a newcomer who came from outside the field to take the lead. Since then, his odds have only climbed. The internet is split: longtime fans point out that he has been a heartthrob since his ER days in the 1990s, while critics are posting that the title “used to mean something.”

The man who may have started it all is his old ER co-star, George Clooney. In January, presenting Wyle with an award at AARP’s Movies for Grownups Awards, Clooney joked that the AARP should create a “Sexiest Man Still Alive” issue and said he would nominate Wyle as the first honoree. Clooney knows the territory: People gave him the title in 1997 and again in 2006, making him only the second man to win it twice. Nine months after that joke, Wyle looks set to win the real thing.

A man in navy scrubs seen from behind, standing in a golden spotlight as camera flashes burst around him

From the emergency room to the magazine cover: one of TV’s most famous doctors may be getting his close-up.

People first gave the title to Mel Gibson in 1985, and it has been one of the magazine’s biggest annual events ever since. The oldest winner remains Sean Connery, who was 59 when he was chosen in 1989. At 55, Wyle would be one of the oldest men ever to hold the title, following recent winners Jonathan Bailey in 2025 and John Krasinski in 2024. Odds aren’t the final word, though. People’s editors make the choice, and the decision stays secret until the cover is revealed. But if the markets are right, the man who spent the 1990s as TV’s favorite young doctor will end 2026 as its most celebrated older one.