‘The Pitt’: R. Scott Gemmill & John Wells Share Insight On Dr. Robby’s State Of Mind & Challenges He Will Face In Season 2

When Season 2 of the critically acclaimed HBO Max series The Pitt premiered, Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Noah Wyle) was riding his motorcycle into work, while enveloped by blue skies and the loud sirens of a nearby ambulance also headed toward Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. For a series that spends most of its time indoors, those little moments outside are special. Dr. Al-Hashimi (Spideh Moafi) plays catcher to obtain a sample from superbaby Jane Doe with the help of Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) and Nurse Jesse Van Horn (Ned Brower)Warrick Page/HBO Max On the Saturday morning of a Fourth of July weekend, 10 months after the events of the Season 1 finale, Dr. Robby is excited to be working his final shift before taking a three-month sabbatical, riding his bike to Alberta. Whether or not that will actually happen is yet to be seen, but the point is: Robby had an emotionally difficult Season 1, and deserves a break. In the first two episodes, Robby appears to be in a better place, but looks can be deceiving. Series creator and executive producer R. Scott Gemmill and fellow EP John Wells spoke to Deadline about Robby’s mental state and the challenges he will face in Season 2, including his strained relationship with Langdon (Patrick Ball) and Dr. Santos’ (Isa Briones) challenges. DEADLINE: When we see Robby at the start of Season 2, he is so excited about this sabbatical. What can you share about where he’s at in the start of the show’s sophomore season and how it sets up the events yet to come? R. SCOTT GEMMILL: [In Season 2], we’re catching up with Robby and seeing what’s going on in his life. As you know, he had a sort of a come-to-Jesus moment in the first season, where he had a breakdown and had to face up to his own sort of demons and realize that he needs some help. He had not dealt with the stressors of COVID and the PTSD that followed. So this season, is he really doing the work he needs to do to get better? That’s a little bit questionable, which you can tell in the early episodes [of Season 2]. JOHN WELLS: You can only keep it down for so long: the stress from everything that everybody went through in COVID. We want to forget about COVID as a country and as a people. I think it was very traumatic for everybody. But for the people who were in the healthcare settings, having to take care of people, having so many people die, having so many of their friends and coworkers get very ill and die, we have to keep reminding everybody about just the cost to those remarkable people who took care of us when we got to sit at home mostly. DEADLINE: Robby looks a lot less burdened at the top of Season 2. Would you say that’s accurate? GEMMILL: I wouldn’t say that he’s less burdened, but I think he’s...

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