Noah Wyle Discusses ‘The Pitt’ Emmy Nominations And His Season 2 Plans

Noah Wyle attends “The Pitt” press line for the HBO Max Emmy Nominee Celebration at NYA Studios West on August 17, 2025 in Hollywood, California.

Variety via Getty Images

Noah Wyle has remained a rather comforting and familiar face on television over the past few decades, initially best known for playing Dr. John Carter on the long-running NBC drama series, ER. Garnering five back-to-back Emmy nominations for his supporting actor performance between 1995-1999, Wyle, 54, is now properly positioned in Hollywood leading man territory with his critically-acclaimed performance on the HBO Max drama series, The Pitt.

Playing Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, The Pitt follows a team of medical professionals in a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania emergency room, as they navigate the unfathomable demands of frontline workers in often life-or-death situations with their many patients, while attempting to face their own past trauma and other commitments that exist beyond the hospital walls.

With season one taking place over one day’s time in a matter of 15 episodes, The Pitt effectively examines the hardships of healthcare workers in America today. Receiving 13 Emmy nominations this year, including “Outstanding Drama Series” and “Lead Actor in a Drama Series” for Wyle’s emotionally raw performance, the HBO Max series (in association with John Wells Productions, R. Scott Gemmill Productions and Warner Bros. Television) is a top contender to take home multiple Emmys come next month.

Speaking with Wyle this past Sunday at the HBO Max Emmy Nominee Celebration in Hollywood, California, I wondered what it means to him to be acknowledged by his peers, with the work that he and his The Pitt television family have created together.

“It feels incredibly gratifying,” Wyle said. “It feels extremely validating to the hard work we put into season one. It feels appropriately spread out among enough departments that you really feel like this is a collective effort of some really talented people. After a couple decades of not being invited to this party, it feels lovely to have my work recognized that way. Moreover, it feels intimidatingly rewarding to be included in the company of anything that has Gary Oldman in it.”

Also speaking briefly with The Pitt’s Emmy-nominated creator R. Scott Gemmill, he said of Wyle’s leadership, “He sets the tone on the set. He’s an amazing, amazing actor, but also a really great person. I think he becomes sort of the goal and the role model on-set, and the others follow suit. We try and find people who really want to be there, and when you have a bunch of people who all have a common goal, working together, your end result is something so much greater than you can do on your own. It’s really great – I mean, that’s the magic of television.”

The Pitt casting director Cathy Sandrich Gelfond, who is also nominated for an Emmy this year, said of the unique energy on this television production, “I think it comes from the top, which is Noah, and very much in the way that Dr. Robby welcomed all the new med students in, Noah has just embraced everybody. I think because they’re doing such intense, technical work – they had two weeks of medical boot camp – I think it fused them very early on and it’s been really exciting watching them grow and grow together.”

The second season of The Pitt is currently filming and will be set on the 4th of July, taking place several months after season one’s storyline, which will include an episode that Wyle will direct himself. So, being also an executive producer on this project and someone who has worked within the entertainment industry for decades, I was curious of his creative thoughts as he heads for the director’s chair next.

Wyle said, “On this job in particular, I feel well-qualified, given that I was part of the formation of it and have been part of the writing staff of it. So, these are characters and it’s a set, and a crew & a cast that I know extremely well. Because Robby is sort of the leader of the ED [Emergency Department], it’s not a huge leap to have me have that energy, which I think won’t be too disruptive. When I write a script, you try to write in the voice of the showrunner – try to direct in the style of the show and have it be a seamless link in a chain – and hopefully, a pleasant week.”

As for loyal viewers of The Pitt, what does Wyle look forward to showing in a different aspect and a different time of life ahead for his Dr. Robby character on-screen?

“This is going to be the crucible season, to see whether or not if you take a ticking clock to a nervous breakdown or a mass casualty event off the table and just say we’re focusing on another shift with characters you now know, who are facing hardships and trials & tribulations that we all face – but is the aggregate tension of that compelling enough to keep viewers tuning in, week-after-week? I think it will be. So, that’s what we’ve tried to do. We’ve not tried to be bigger, bolder, faster, funnier. We’ve just tried to be consistent with the attention-to-detail and specificity we brought to the writing in season one, and to make sure that the characters are 10 months later in their lives, reflective of what’s happened within that 10 months period, but also the mass casualty event that they were all witness to before that. So, a lot of season two is about mental health of the practitioners and people who are on the front lines, and the various resources that are made available that they may or may not take, make use of, and the difficulty in accepting help, because sometimes doctors don’t make the best patients.”

Concluding my conversation with Wyle during this Emmy nomination celebration and voting season for The Pitt, I left him with my signature, original interview question – What would you, Noah, say to Dr. Robby, if you could speak to him after embodying him over these seasons so far – knowing his journey, knowing what his wants out of life are, everything – what would you say to him, whether it’s a comforting message or a warning? What do you feel he needs to hear?

Wyle laughed and said, “Well, I kind of need him f***ed up for four more years.”

I playfully interjected, “Otherwise, there’s no more television?”

He replied, “Yeah – so heal slowly, my man.”