Without “ER” (one of the best medical shows ever), there would be no “The Pitt” today. Essentially the love child of three people — R. Scott Gemmill, Noah Wyle, and John Wells — who worked together on the former decades ago, HBO Max’s drama has become the latest TV sensation in the medical genre. It’s also not a coincidence that Wyle, who played Dr. John Carter on “ER” (one of the series’ most intriguing and nuanced characters), was chosen to lead “The Pitt” as Dr. Robby, a senior attending physician of the emergency room in a Philadelphia hospital.
Playing Carter for over 15 years, Wyle became a TV doctor (and empath) that viewers trusted. If you haven’t seen “ER” in a while, it’s easy to forget how layered, humanly written, and likable Carter was from the beginning. From being practically a fly on the emergency department’s wall (as a third-year medical student) to becoming the “captain of the ship” (as Chief Resident), he had the full cycle of a complete character arc that many actors can only wish for. Because of that, he earned the lead role in “The Pitt,” so much so that creator Gemmill wrote the character with the actor’s constant feedback. But Wyle’s reason for putting the white coat back on after a long break is even more noble and inspiring than you think.
Speaking to Television Academy, the actor explained how the idea of the series came about:
“During peak Covid, I was home, as we all were, not working, feeling pretty useless, and I was getting a lot of mail from first responders. They were saying thank you for having inspired them to go into a career in emergency medicine — or keeping them inspired while they were going to work in what was amounting to a nightmare. I was overwhelmed by those letters, and I didn’t really know what to do with them. I sent them to John [Wells] and said, ‘Hey, John, outside the birth of my kids, that show [‘ER’] may be the best thing I ever did with my life, because we may be indirectly responsible for saving lives right now. I know you don’t want to do the show again, and I don’t really either, but if you ever want to talk about what’s happening right now and need someone to scream from a mountaintop, I volunteer.’ That’s where it was born, out of this need to shine a light back on this community.”
How Wyle approached the role of another doctor and took it to new heights
Despite the extensive experience Wyle had from portraying Dr. Carter for 254 episodes on “ER,” playing Dr. Robby was a very different challenge. Sure, there are a lot of similarities between the two characters — they’re both admirably emphatic and dedicated — but the latter is much more worn-out and disillusioned by emergency medicine and the grueling work it requires than Carter was. Robby is also more closed-off, suffering from post-COVID PTSD, and tends to ignore the signs his body sends him when getting overwhelmed. Naturally, he knows it’s all part of the job but has an increasingly tougher time dealing with it, and we get to witness how his mind deteriorates, eventually spiraling into a devastating and heart-breaking mental breakdown towards the end of the first season.
In spite of that, however, Wyle relished in the familiarity that the part offered him. “It was really uncanny to me how familiar things were in a wonderful kind of way,” he explained, “like playing a musical instrument, then not playing for 15 years, and then finding that, while there’s rust, there’s something different about the tone that makes it more interesting now.”
Once again, he’s done a fantastic job. Wyle knew from the start that “The Pitt” would require a slightly different tone from what “ER” had, and he adjusted to it in a way that allowed him to build on an already stellar performance and take it to new heights. Focusing more on the realism, technology, and authenticity of medicine this time rather than the melodrama, he gave us another inspiring and deeply human showcase. But at the same time, when it came to those delicate and deeply intimate scenes involving certain patients, colleagues, and family members, it was virtually impossible not to see Dr. Carter resurface for a moment or two. And if you were (or are) a huge fan of “ER” like me, those could only deepen your adoration and fandom for Wyle as an actor who not only stayed loyal to his roots but cherished them at the right place and the right time, too.
“The Pitt” is now streaming on HBO Max.
