Noah Wyle Says COVID Sparked The Pitt, Driving 2 Seasons and a Season 3
Updated
Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Jun 11
Noah Wyle Says COVID Sparked The Pitt, Driving 2 Seasons and a Season 3
1 articles · Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Jun 11
Summary
55-year-old Noah Wyle said on THR’s Awards Chatter podcast that The Pitt grew out of a 2020 email he sent former ER showrunner John Wells after hearing from first responders during COVID.
That exchange led Wyle, Wells and ER writer R. Scott Gemmill to develop a new post-COVID medical drama, abandoning an early idea to revisit ER’s John Carter in favor of a fresh hospital and character.
2 seasons of The Pitt have already rolled out, with a third in the works, as Wyle said the team waited for enough social and economic perspective on the pandemic before shaping the story.
Wyle said the show’s reception has been more personal than ER’s, with viewers and emergency-room workers sharing grief and burnout stories, while his retired nurse mother also opened up about her own experiences after watching.
Back on the Warner Bros. lot where he shot ER, Wyle said the series marks a rare “second lightning strike” in his career and a chance to tell what he called an important story now.