Noah Wyle is returning to the emergency room for his new medical drama The Pitt, which actually came together after an ER reboot never came together (sparking a lawsuit in the process). The actor, who starred as Dr. John Carter on the first 11 seasons of ER, and appeared briefly in Seasons 12 and 15, is now putting the lab coat back on for a different kind of medical drama, and his new character is no Carter.
Streaming with a Max subscription beginning January 9, The Pitt will slice into the 2025 TV schedule with 15 episodes, where each plays out in real time over the course of a 15-hour shift at an emergency room in Pittsburgh. Wyle’s Dr. Michael Robinavitch heads up a new group of residents and medical students on their first day. Despite the show also coming from ER producers John Wells and R. Scott Gemmill, Wyle told TV Insider that the similarities are just surface, and that Dr. Robinavitch is pretty different from Dr. Carter in part because of his heritage. As he put it:
He’s so different by design. Once we pivoted away from the idea of having [the series] be tied to that [ER] IP, we wanted to see how different we could make it. That began with John saying, ‘Noah, where’s your family from?’ They’re Russian-Jewish. And he said, ‘Well, what’s a name? What can we play with there? Would you want to play in that blood memory?’ I was interested in playing a guy who came from a way more blue-collar background and who hadn’t had any of those early opportunities, who came to medicine for completely different reasons.
Fans of ER know that Carter had it fairly easy, at least when it came to his background, since he came from a rich family. He didn’t have the best relationship with some of his relatives due to his decision to go into medicine and stray from the family business. He really wanted to do something with his life, and viewers are well aware of the positive impact he had on plenty of patients.
But it sounds like for Robinavitch has a lot more to prove, and it will be exciting to find out what his own background is. References an interesting storyline tying into the pandemic, Wyle continued:
This is a guy who probably shouldn’t be doing this anymore but was pressed back into service during Covid and has stayed shouldering the burdens of the job without really doing any of the therapeutic or analytic work necessary to optimize his mental health. He’s not quite up to the task, and today, you’re catching him on a really bad day. The mask he’s been wearing of competence and confidence begins to erode. We see the toll that practicing medicine through Covid and afterwards has taken on some of these healthcare workers.
This will be an intriguing way to learn more about Robinavitch and even see another way that a medical drama handles COVID. It sounds like there will be a lot to look forward to and a lot to learn about Noah Wyle’s new character and all of the characters. Even though Robinavitch isn’t Carter, there will likely be a reference or two to ER. Regardless, though, it will be exciting to see what happens. Even just seeing Wyle back in an emergency room is giving me feels.
After a first look at Wyle back in scrubs dropped in August, fans couldn’t stop talking about ER. The NBC medical drama ran for 15 seasons and came to an end in 2009. People couldn’t help but to share their thoughts on The Pitt’s first look and many were happy that Dr. Carter was back. Even if he wasn’t exactly Dr. Carter.
People will be able to see for themselves how Noah Wyle does in the emergency room again when The Pitt drops this Thursday. In the meantime, those wanting to see Dr. Carter again can do so with a Hulu subscription or on Max as well with all 15 seasons of ER.
