This story originally appeared in the Movies & Limited Series issue of TheWrap’s Emmy magazine.

It’s a good thing that Christopher Abbott was cast to play John Yossarian, the existentialist, bombardier protagonist of Joseph Heller’s classic World War II novel “Catch-22,” in Hulu’s adaptation of the book, because Abbott is quite the existentialist himself. He studied the author’s work carefully to play YoYo, a man caught in a war he can’t escape since claiming that he can’t fly because he’s crazy proves he’s sane.

“The book is a plethora of backstory and knowledge,” Abbott, the star of the George Clooney-executive produced and directed limited series, said. “Obviously, there were scenes that were in the book that weren’t in the show. But there are elements of the character and who Yossarian is as a person that gave me a lot that...