10 TV Roles The Other Two's Cary Dubek Totally Auditioned For

The Other Two is back for its third season, which means we're once again about to board the roller coaster that is Cary Dubek's (Drew Tarver) acting career. At the end of Season 2, Cary got the role he was coveting in the indie thriller Night Nurse (starring Edie Falco and Beanie Feldstein!). But that doesn't mean he's got it made. Season 3 sees Cary continue to scrap and push and make increasingly humiliating self-tapes to get the next role that will keep his career on the ascent.

So much of The Other Two plays like a perfectly observed (and then absurdly heightened) version of the current eccentricities of the entertainment industry, which makes it very easy to guess the kinds of real-world roles that Cary Dubek would have auditioned for in the last several years. We've narrowed down 10 real-life roles from real-life shows that would fit seamlessly into the world of The Other Two — parts that Cary would hope to land to advance his career.

Dillon on The White Lotus

Before Lukas Gage got the role of Dillon, a staffer at the White Lotus' Hawaiian resort in Season 1, he was known for being the subject of a viral video of a nightmare audition in which he overheard the director making fun of his meager living conditions. That kind of indignity screams Cary Dubek, so it's not hard to imagine a storyline in which Cary follows a career path similar to Gage’s by auditioning for The White Lotus. Cary's big break coming from an analingus scene doesn't seem far-fetched for The Other Two.

Darcy on I Love That for You

Matt Rogers delivers a funny and frequently poignant performance as the bitchy and beleaguered assistant on Showtime's I Love That For You. Boiling the Darcy role down to "gay assistant" does a disservice to the complexities of the character, but it's also the niche of roles that Cary has likely auditioned for by the dozens.

Tyler on Uncoupled

If "gay assistant" is right in the sweet spot of roles Cary has auditioned for, "twinky gay nemesis" isn't far off the mark. Nic Rouleau plays Tyler, a younger, hotter real-estate rival to Neil Patrick Harris' character on the Netflix comedy series, a role he may have gotten because he'd previously appeared on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt in the "Daddy's Boy" number, and one Cary absolutely should have been up for.

Oscar on The Gilded Age

Of course, Cary doesn't have to necessarily get all tarted up to land a breakthrough role. Instead, he could get all decked out in 19th-century period garb to play Christine Baranski's scheming gay son. Blake Ritson got the role and is doing delicious things with it, but a screen test between Cary and Ms. Baranski is the stuff The Other Two is made of.

Adam Carpenter on American Horror Story: NYC

Much like when Cary was a bartender on Watch What Happens Live, getting murdered (or near-murdered) on American Horror Story is a rite of passage for any young, hot, gay actor. Charlie Carver landed this role on AHS: NYC, but if Cary never tried to audition for a Ryan Murphy show, it would beggar belief.

Tyler Shultz on The Dropout

Streaming TV's parade of scammer shows in 2022 would have been prime audition time for Cary. He almost certainly would have been up for the role that Dylan Minnette got as the privileged grandson turned whistleblower on The Dropout. Cary's decision to follow Amanda Seyfried's lead and attempt a bizarre voice for the role was probably his downfall.

Stripper on Welcome to Chippendales

Hey, sometimes you take the roles that are available to you, which is how Cary ended up auditioning for Welcome to Chippendales not as a major character but as one of the ensemble of strippers. Scoff if you must, but Cary is looking surprisingly buff in the new season — just not "Chippendale dancer" buff, which he learned the hard way while auditioning next to a series of musclebound Adonises.

Kate Keller on Gossip Girl

Remember the cold shock you felt when you learned that Tavi Gevinson was cast in the new Gossip Girl reboot as a teacher? How that made you feel like your elderly bones were turning to dust? Imagine how Cary felt when he went out to audition for Gossip Girl and learned he was gonna have to play the old narc of a teacher — and not even the hot teacher who gets involved in an inappropriate relationship with a student!

Turner in Disney+’s Turner & Hooch

Honestly, "Cary auditions for the lead role in a reboot of Turner & Hooch where he gets slobbered over by the dog for 20 minutes and then loses the part to Josh from Drake & Josh" sounds like the plot to an episode of The Other Two that already exists.

"Clicker" Voice Actor on The Last of Us

Times are tough. A gig is a gig. And with Cary still looking to find that foothold in the industry, he can't afford to be snobby about anything. So when the opportunity arises to hitch his wagon to HBO's next-big-thing video game adaptation, he'd surely have taken whatever audition he could get. Which is how he ended up making wild clicking sounds into a mic to approximate the noises of The Last of Us' cordyceps zombies. Not quite well enough to land the gig, of course, but it would've been fun to watch Cary try to get into character.

The Other Two is streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes dropping every Thursday. Join the discussion about the show in our forums.

Joe Reid is the senior writer at Primetimer and co-host of the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast. His work has appeared in Decider, NPR, HuffPost, The Atlantic, Slate, Polygon, Vanity Fair, Vulture, The A.V. Club and more.