'The Pitt' Star Noah Wyle Reflects on the 'Key to Longevity' in Hollywood and Why His Latest Show is an 'Answered Prayer' (Exclusive)

"Links in a chain." That's how Noah Wyle describes The Pitt to Parade during an exclusive interview. The actor is donning some familiar scrubs for the new Max series, returning to the medical drama for the first time since his career-making and Emmy-winning eleven-year run on ER. And he's not alone, flanked in the metaphoric operating room by some familiar faces in ER alumni John Wells and R. Scott Gemmill. When asked why the three chose to scrub in once more for a medical show, 15 years after the conclusion of the hit NBC drama, there was one major event that spurred it on.

"The line of demarcation is the pandemic," Wyle tells Parade. "Everything changed in the healthcare at that point. And we wanted to make a show that brought the spotlight back to the first responder community to show that they've basically been doing ceaseless tours of duty since 2020 without a break, and the fragility of our healthcare system is directly proportionate to the quality of care that we give our practitioners. And right now, they're tired, and their morale is flagging, and their numbers are dwindling, and the need is growing. And so we wanted to talk about what heroes they are again. Not just in a 'Let's clap for them as they finish their shift and save our lives.' But in a real, empathetic way and show the world what it's like to walk in their shoes."

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Indeed, The Pitt serves to be one of the most true-to-life medical dramas to date. The show functions as a cross between ER and 24, as the entire 15-episode season takes place in real-time across one 15-hour shift at the emergency department in a fictional hospital. Patients cycle in and out, with some appearing in one episode, while others have an arc carrying over a third of the season. The constants are the beleaguered staff, led by Robbie and featuring a bevy of talent, including Tracy Ifeachor, Katherine LaNasa, and Isa Briones. And, for Wyle, his role as a mentor played out both on and off-screen (albeit in a warmer way than his character Dr. Robby).

"The last thing you want to do is be a guy who says, 'Here's what you need to do, and here's what we used to do, and here's what you should do,' he says. "I learned a while ago that the key to longevity in this business is staying relevant to young people and engaging them at their level and empowering them to have their own voices and agency in their characters. So, if anything, I'm just trying to boost their confidence, alleviate their anxieties, and remind them that this is a different type of show. You can paint with a much finer brush because we are all links in a chain."

Read on for our full interview with Noah Wyle. New episodes of The Pitt drop at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on Thursdays on Max.

Related: Everything to Know About The Pitt

Where did the idea for The Pitt come from? And what was your reaction to getting to engage back in the world of medical dramas after it was such a big part of your career?

Not to claim sole ownership, but this was an idea that kind of came independently to three people at the same time. John Wells, Scott Gemmill, and I, all during the pandemic, thought there might be another story to tell in the medical arena that we might want to be part of. And so, around then we got back in each other's spheres and started talking about what this could be. And it went through a few permutations, but this is what we came up with.

What would you say are the biggest differences between making medical dramas in a pre-pandemic versus post-pandemic world?
I think that's really the big distinction. You know, that's the line of demarcation is the pandemic. Everything changed in the healthcare at that point. And we wanted to make a show that brought the spotlight back to the first responder community to show that they've basically been doing ceaseless tours of duty since 2020 without a break, and the fragility of our healthcare system is directly proportionate to the quality of care that we give our practitioners. And right now, they're tired, and their morale is flagging, and their numbers are dwindling, and the need is growing. And so we wanted to talk about what heroes they are again. Not just in a "Let's clap for them as they finish their shift and save our lives." But in a real, empathetic way and show the world what it's like to walk in their shoes.

Another big difference between a show like The Pitt and ER is the timeframe in which everything goes down. At what point in the process of creating the series did the idea of having everything go down in fairly real-time across the season come in?
Early on in the show's development. When it wasn't going to be ER, then it was an exercise. How do we create a new sense of immediacy, a new sense of authenticity? How do we move that needle farther than we were able to before? Being on a streamer affords us the opportunity to show things we couldn't show before, and say things we couldn't say before. But what are the things intrinsic to the healthcare crisis that we're going through that we really want to get into? And it's amazing how many cases we were able to put on the board that we weren't even in our consciousness 15 years ago. Anything from the fentanyl epidemic to trans rights, these weren't cultural norms 15 years ago.

To that point, this past week's episode ended up bringing a very hot-button issue to the forefront in abortion. Talk to me about how you chose to approach such a political topic through The Pitt.
Well, when we wrote the show a year ago, these topics weren't quite as hot as they are now. That one was. And we wrote that one thoughtfully and soberly, and wanted to present points of view equally without judgment. And the fastest way to get somebody to turn this show off is to appear dogmatic or partisan in the way that we approach this stuff. It's not necessary for the creation of drama to take a side. If we just depict what the reality is and let it be a mirror, then it will have its own effect. So to that end, we wanted to present it as what happens, not what should or shouldn't happen.

Talk to me about the process of writing The Pitt. I know you penned Episode 4. But I imagine, with the nature of the show, it's a very communal effort to make sure that you don't lose track of all of the patients and storylines that flow in and out.
It was a very different type of writing room. I've had the privilege of being in three now, and this one was its own beast. Because it required breaking all 15 episodes on the wall before we started shooting Episode 1. These throughline storylines, whether they were a three-episode arc for a patient, or a five-episode arc for a patient, nine-episode arc for a patient, or 15 for our characters. It required a lot of diligent pre-planning. We tried to have a blend of cases that were closed-ended so that you could watch an episode and feel like it was satisfying.

And then we also wanted to take full advantage of these being links in a chain, so that, if I say your labs are going to be back in an hour, I can go and tell stories for another hour that don't have to do with you. And then come back in the next episode or two episodes later with those labs and pick up that thread. And if we've done our job right, the audience's investments will allow the recall for those storylines to click in very quickly. So far, so good! It seems to be holding that everybody's remembering where they were in these storylines when they revisit them.

Related: ER Through the Years

Considering how much episodes flow into one another–to the point where there are no previously on's–was there any talk about releasing The Pitt in a binge format?
I think we're trending away from binging. I personally have a capacity for maybe two, three [episodes]. If it's an hour drama, maybe even less. But that's also because I like to enjoy the content I'm watching. And when I'm binging, I don't always absorb it. There's the other practical aspect that when you're on a streamer, subscriptions are really what drives their profitability, and they don't want anybody to cancel the subscription. So the longer that investment in the show lasts for the audience, the longer they're going to hang on to that subscription. So if you give them a 15-episode show, and you show it once a week, you're going to hang on to that audience now for a couple of months, which is great for everybody. And I think that there's something really rewarding about having a show you can talk about all week and look forward to it. There was something comforting about it back in the old days when it was all you could do. And I think there's something nostalgically comforting about it now.

Despite the rapid-fire pace, you are slow-rolling some of the bigger mysteries from the characters. For instance, only in this past episode did we find out that Dr. Robby and Dr. Collins were previously in a relationship. Talk about how you seed those secrets out, especially to your earlier point about having to break all 15 episodes at once.
You're not gonna go home with these characters. We're not going to this coffee shop or the diner across the street to get those long expository scenes about why they became a doctor. You're gonna get it, but you're gonna get it in dialogue that's organic to the story that's being told in the moment. Last week's episode, I thought, showcased two personal stories to a larger degree. You learned a lot more about Dr McKay's backstory, but it came in service of trying to build a connection of trust with the unhoused mother that she was treating. She wanted to share that she didn't have it all figured out. There were many times when she felt equally lost as a way of opening up a dialogue, which seemed like a great way of learning about the character, but also staying in the moment of treating the patient similarly. With Taylor Dearden's character of Mel, you learn a lot more about her being a primary caregiver to her sister as she's trying to impart advice to somebody who looks like they may be suffering compassion fatigue, being the sole caretaker for their aging and infirm mother.

Dr. Robby is looked up to by many of the staff as the leading voice in the room. Similarly, you're on The Pitt with many people who don't have experience in medical dramas before. Talk to me about the role you played as a mentor, both on and off-screen.
I think I've been kinder and more gentle than Robby. I've made myself available as a resource, let's put it that way. The last thing you want to do is be a guy who says, "Here's what you need to do, and here's what we used to do, and here's what you should do." I learned a while ago that the key to longevity in this business is staying relevant to young people and engaging them at their level and empowering them to have their own voices and agency in their characters. So, if anything, I'm just trying to boost up their confidence, alleviate their anxieties, and remind them that this is a different type of show. You can paint with a much finer brush because we are all links in a chain.

Think about if you're still on your feet for 15 hours, when fatigue would begin to come in, and where in your body that would come into play. And then pick the episode you want to start layering that in. So it was a lot more of that kind of thing, about reminding everybody how different this particular exercise is and how diligent we need to be to that internal continuity. And don't don't worry about needing to make the most out of every moment, because the moments in aggregate will speak for themselves. Trust the writing, trust the beats that are there. Stay on the surfboard. This wave will carry you.

You mentioned before your happiness at fans of the show being able to keep up with the pace. In general, what's been your reaction to the reception of The Pitt, both from diehard ER fans and people completely new to the medical drama genre?
It's been extremely gratifying. I mean, in a lot of ways, this show feels like an answered prayer. I've said it before, there were two moments in my career where I really understood that I need work more than just as a source of livelihood, I needed as a point of orientation as a sort of mental health. The pandemic and this last 192-day labor strike reminded me of the fragility of work, and to be grateful for it when it comes, and to really stay present and and appreciative for the process. So getting to do a show this way, which is such a wonderful creative experiment, has been the most gratifying thing I've ever done in my life. It really has been a dream.

Lastly, if The Pitt gets renewed for a Season 2, which ER alum would like to see in the trauma ward, either as a colleague or a patient?
I can't think of a more loaded question to ask somebody. I wish we could bring them all, to be honest. It would have been wonderful.

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