Wynonna Earp: 5 Facts about Doc Holliday That Made It Into the Show (And 5 That Didn’t)

Wynonna Earp delightfully blends science fiction with westerns. Wynonna is presented as the heir of Wyatt Earp, although we know that real-life Wyatt Earp didn’t have any heirs.

Doc Holliday is a member of the Earp team. As Wyatt’s best friend, he continues to look after the family, befriending and later falling in love with Wynonna. First immortal due to a witch’s curse and then to a vampire’s bite, he proves a strong and forever ally despite his more negative characteristics. How much of the real historical Doc is in the series? The real Doc was a man of myth and legend built partly by his persona and by his best friend, Wyatt.

10 Made It Into the Show: Was Trained as a Dentist

Doc was trained as a dentist at the Penn College of Dental Surgery. When he first moved out west, he tried to maintain a dental business. Doc was educated and from a fairly well-off family. Some would describe him as a gentleman when he didn’t drink. Drinking, of course, brought out a very different Doc. This is something that we see in the show as well, although our Doc in the show seems to be able to handle his liquor.

9 Didn’t Make It Into the Show: Momma’s Boy

The real Doc was very close to his mother, and some would have said he was spoiled by her. When she died, it was hard for Doc, especially since she spent so much time with him. Supposedly, she spent more time with him since young Doc had a speech impediment and other health problems. Regardless of the reason, he grew up having a close relationship with her.

The fact that she died of consumption, which he would have witnessed, didn’t help things, and probably was in his mind when he also came down with consumption.

8 Made It Into the Show: Dying of Consumption

In the show, we see the agony that Doc felt, dying of consumption. Wyatt leaves Doc in a sorry state, says his good-byes because he doesn’t think he will ever see Doc again until in death. Doc outsmarts life and has a witch grant him immortality. This serves as both a blessing and a curse as the Stone Witch puts Doc in a deep well, isolated and alone for years.

While the real Doc didn’t luck upon a witch to help him out, he was dying of consumption. It was said that part of his courage came from the fact that he was already a dying man and so he wasn’t afraid of death. Ultimately, he did die of consumption in Colorado. Apparently, Doc was so poor at this point that he was buried in a potter’s field (a mass grave for the poor).

7 Didn’t Make It Into the Show: Lived in Many States

For his time, Doc was fairly well-traveled, living in multiple states and territories. According to W.B. Masterson, a contemporary journalist and lawman of the times, Doc lived in Georgia, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Kansas. Masterson writes that Doc killed or was linked to the killings of people in each state except for Kansas. Additionally, Doc lived in Pennsylvania during his college years. Doc was familiar with different locations and learned to make his living in each. This wouldn’t have been common for many from that time period.

6 Made It Into the Show: From the South

The real Doc was from Georgia and from what was considered at the time, a family of some means. In the show we can hear Doc’s thick Southern drawl. Also, his Southern manners and values are part of his character. Aware of right and wrong as well as holding firmly to loyalty, he becomes a trusted ally of the Earp sisters in the series.

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We see more evidence of his Southern upbringing in the character’s charm, as sweet and heavy as molasses.

5 Didn’t Make It Into the Show: The Reason He Came West

While it could have been partly due to adventure, the main reason that Doc came west was because of his consumption/tuberculosis. His mother had died from it, so he knew what the final stages of the disease looked like. At that time, people believed that the dry air would alleviate the symptoms, give the afflicted a chance for a longer life, and/or provide a cure from the disease.

Doc came for this same reason. Unfortunately, while he was able to delay the progress of the disease, he wasn’t able to stop it. He died from tuberculosis, or consumption as it was called back then.

4 Did Make It Into the Show: Tumultuous Relationship With Kate

In Season 3 of Wynonna Earp, we meet Doc’s longtime paramour, Big-Nosed Kate. In the show, we can see that their relationship was important, but that their love isn’t as present as it was when they both were fully human. We also see that their love is off and on.

This tumultuous and off/on nature of their romance stems from history. At times, Kate was referred to as Doc’s wife. They moved around together, and they lived together. Kate was rumored to help Doc out as well, setting fire to a shed in order to divert attention from Doc after he supposedly knifed a local. However, this story may be as much of legend as the couple themselves. Off and on, these two were together for years. While Doc Holliday had an appetite for women, Kate is the only one that seemed to last long-term.

3 Didn’t Make It Into the Show: Had a Slight Build

The Doc in the show is presented as tall and built, a very handsome and masculine man. Multiple accounts say that the real Doc was a tall lanky man, barely 130 pounds. Seeing that he suffered from tuberculosis (the wasting illness) for years, it seems reasonable that he would have a thin frame. Still, he could draw and shoot and was a good addition to any gunfight.

In the famous OK Corral fight, actual eye witness accounts were discovered. They reported that Doc hid a gun underneath his coat. While interesting, this would seem a difficult feat for such a thin man to do well.

2 Did Make It Into the Show: Stood with the Earps

In Wynonna Earp, Doc is loyal to the Earp sisters and their friends. Part of that loyalty stems from his connection to the past, to his best friend, Wyatt.

The real Doc stood with the Earp brothers in the OK Corral fight. One of his most positive traits was his loyalty and friendship to Wyatt. This is carried over in the show. It was said that Doc didn’t have many friends, but he would have done anything for Wyatt.

1 Didn’t Make It Into the Show: Persona and Complicated Stories

If we are to believe W.B. Masterson and other contemporaries of the time, Doc Holliday killed many people, sometimes just because he was angry and drunk. However, some believe that Doc used this persona for protection and that he didn’t kill that many people. The only person that is known that Doc killed for certain is Tom McLaury at OK Corral. Supposedly, Doc cried after killing Tom, although no one knows this for sure.

Doc Holliday’s persona and mystery is what makes him such an interesting historical figure. This air of mystery continues in the Doc of Wynonna Earp, a character we constantly root for, but also worry that he will let us down.

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