James Wilson (House) - Character Biography

Character Biography

Wilson is one of three brothers. He has an undergraduate degree from McGill University, and graduate degrees from Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Shortly after a medical convention in New Orleans, after graduating medical school, Wilson accidentally broke an antique mirror and started a bar fight when another customer repeatedly played "Leave A Tender Moment Alone" by Billy Joel to the frustration of Wilson, who was going through a divorce with his first wife at the time. Out of interest, House bailed him out and hired an attorney to clear his name, thus starting their professional and personal relationship. In the Season 1 episode "Histories", it is revealed that one of his brothers is homeless and that Wilson is unaware if he is still alive as he has not seen him in nine years. Wilson has a history of failed marriages: he is married to his third wife during Season 1 and, with the discovery of his wife's infidelity, separates from her during Season 2. After the failure of his third marriage, Wilson lives in various temporary accommodations (including a stint at House's own apartment) until he meets Amber Volakis, who is a female substitute for House. He is described as "nearly 40" in "Don't Ever Change", in Season 4. Wilson and House's relationship has been sorely tested on many occasions.

He was diagnosed with stage II thymoma in the Season 8 episode "Body and Soul". In the end of the subsequent episode (in which Wilson and House take an abrupt vacation, and Wilson assumes a much more carefree personality), House performed a CT scan to check the status of the cancer. House's stunned facial expression and silence when the results are displayed seemingly does not bode well for Wilson's future prognosis, which will be revealed in the final two episodes of the series. It is later revealed that Wilson, should he pursue the most extensive treatment, could live for one to three years, perhaps. He opts to cease the intensive chemotherapy treatment after the ultimately unsuccessful first round, choosing to make the most of the remaining five months or so he would likely have for as long as possible; ultimately, after many tense conversations, House accepts his decision. However, due to the serious vandalism House caused in the toilet system and plumbing, which ultimately destroyed a room containing a MRI scanner (where some of his team members were at with a patient), Foreman and the hospital lawyer notify House that the matter became externally known to the police; subsequently, his parole officer had his parole revoked by the court. House must report to prison again to serve the remaining six months of his approximately year-long sentence he got earlier, in the last season, when he ran his car into Cuddy's house. In the series finale, at House's funeral, Wilson gives an honest description of House as opposed to everyone's kind words and gets a text message telling him to "shut up you idiot." To his shock, Wilson discovers House alive and well having faked his death and House asks Wilson how he wants to spend his last five months. Sometime later, Wilson, with a more scruffy appearance and House are seen in the countryside on motorcycles, Wilson having presumably quit his job to spend his last five months as he wants. He asks House about what they will do when the cancer gets bad, but House simply tells him that "cancer is boring" and they ride off together.