Orthopedics is more than setting broken bones and making splits and no one knows that more than Daniel Gillies who plays “Saving Hope’s” hot shot orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Joel Goran.

“There’s something about orthopedics that delves into the realm of futuristic sciences and I imagine Joel likes playing God to a certain extent,” Gillies says. “There’s a certain omnipotence about the idea of replacing limbs and such and I think that’d be one of the most appealing things!”

Watch the Supertrailer of Episode 3 now.

To prepare for his role, Gillies met with various surgeons and asked them everything. “And I’m reading my fourth book written by a surgeon,” he says.

He’s got a lot of challenging surgeries coming up this season, but the most challenging so far is the Van Ness rotationplasty in Episode 3.

“It’s a fascinating procedure,” Gilles says, clearly excited by the surgery. “Joel considers replacing a knee with a working ankle to you can attach a prosthetic to it.”

But before he can do the surgery, Joel has to win over acting chief of surgery, Dr. Kinney. Though this surgery is usually only performed on children, the patient is a labourer and Joel understands he’s going to need to be able to be physically active after the surgery.

If it’s successful, Joel would increase his stature as both a risk taker and a top notch member of the Hope-Zion team.

“All the reading and all the academia in the world doesn’t make you a great doctor,” Gillies says about Joel’s transformation. “They have to get good and they have to start somewhere. Practicing being a surgeon makes you a great surgeon.”

It’s a similar process to acting, he reflects. “It’s identical. You spend the first six or seven years being a kind of terrible actor and it’s very difficult to understand how to make something work or not,” he says.

“Great actors still make terrible movies and make some terrible acting decisions, but they’re doing it because they’re taking chances and I love those people.”