Tension and trauma await Noah Wyle’s Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch in the first trailer for The Pitt Season Two. The popular HBO Max series returns in January with another shift in the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center emergency room. The teaser previews new patients with an array of ailments, but also one particular familiar face: Patrick Ball’s Dr. Frank Langdon.
Fresh out of rehab, senior resident Langdon seems ready to be back, but there’s also the looming unease of his first encounter with Robby. The last time they spoke, it was during an argument after Robby dismissed Langdon when he discovered stolen doses of medication in his work locker. It’s Langdon’s first day back, and Robby’s last before an extended break. With 15 hours to go, the whole crew is locking in to save lives and friendships.
Season Two picks up during the July 4 weekend, around 10 months after Season One. “Langdon has walked the penitent road, and he has done everything he needs to do to keep his medical license in check,” Wyle recently told Vanity Fair. “He’s going to face his colleagues, who may or may not know that he had an addiction problem. All of that is very commendable. But there’s a personal betrayal that Robby feels that is going to be even harder for him to get up and over on the other side of.”
The first season of the medical drama revived a familiar television trope with new intensity and an unique format. “We’d done so many medical stories that it was really about trying to find a way to make the show feel different and fresh,” series creator R. Scott Gemill told Rolling Stone earlier this year. “I don’t think any one of us wanted to go back to doing what we’d done in the past. We need to be challenged, and we need to challenge ourselves.”
With each episode rooted in a specific hour at the hospital, the challenge lies in the question of how much is too much. In addition to the returning cast, Season Two expands with new members Sepideh Moafi and Laëtitia Hollard, who plays a med student and gets a spotlight in the trailer, asking, “You guys do this every day?”
In a review of Season One, Rolling Stone‘s Alan Sepinwall wrote, “It’s a big ensemble, and the mix of ED veterans and rookies makes it tough for anyone but Wyle, as the most known quantity, to pop for a while. Over time, though, every character becomes more fully rounded, and the supporting actors get moments to shine.”
