James Wilson’s surname is Wilson in House M.D. He is the hospital’s head of oncology and Gregory House’s closest friend, played by Robert Sean Leonard.
Wilson serves as a moral and emotional counterweight to House. He is generally more empathetic and socially adept, but his friendship with House is not simple: House’s behavior repeatedly creates professional and personal problems, while Wilson continues to understand the intelligence and pain beneath House’s hostility. Their relationship is one of the series’ central continuing storylines.
The character’s full name is Dr. James Evan Wilson. His specialty, oncology, also creates a contrast with House’s diagnostic medicine. Wilson treats cancer patients, whereas House’s team usually investigates unexplained symptoms across multiple medical specialties. The character is not named James Watson; that name belongs to Sherlock Holmes’s famous companion, while Wilson is House’s corresponding confidant in the television series.