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Shealyn Scott is a Senior Writer at Screen Rant. She has been writing for the site since 2024, focused on network, reality, streaming, and classic television.
A creative writer, journalist, and lover of the written word in all its forms, Shealyn enjoys deconstructing scenes from her favorite shows, using context clues and historical precedent to predict major plot points (which, due to her successful track record, has sparked rumors of clairvoyancy).
As an award-winning student journalist, Shealyn spent her college years advocating for the humanities while studying English Literature. Her love of storytelling propelled her to expand her degree with minors in Writing and History, believing life to be a mere collection of stories that can be framed in as many ways as a movie scene.
As a Senior member of the TV Team, Shealyn treats the series she covers like books, analyzing every line, camera angle, and lighting choice. Thankfully, her personal mission statement lines up perfectly with Screen Rant: every creative work deserves just as much thought from the viewer as it received from its creator.
The Pitt’s highly-anticipated sophomore year is almost here, which makes now the perfect time for a quick refresher on season 1. The inspired medical drama was an instant hit, earning acclaim as one of the best shows of 2025. From real doctors praising its authenticity to directors celebrating its cinematography, The Pitt’s streaming success ran far and wide throughout 2025.
With such a powerhouse debut season, however, The Pitt season 2 has high expectations to reach. There will be new characters, conflicts, and underlying themes introduced across a fresh batch of 15 episodes, but The Pitt season 1 laid the groundwork for whatever comes next. As such, a crash course is in order to fully appreciate The Pitt season 2.
The Pitt Spans One 15-Hour Shift Each Season
Every Episode Is A Full Hour Of Chaos
MovieStillsDBWhat makes The Pitt’s emergency room setting so intense is that there’s no breathing room for the characters— or the viewers. The doctors, nurses, et al. at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center (PTMC) work in a constant state of chaos, from rowdy patients waiting in chairs to sudden arrivals on the brink of death who need emergency care.
Unlike any other medical drama on air, however, The Pitt is a single-shift split chronicled by the hour. Each episode, another hectic hour is added like a puzzle piece that complicates interpersonal drama, progresses mysterious cases, and gives brief insight into what the future will hold after the 15-hour shift ends.
The Pitt Is Brutally Realistic
The Series Reflects True-To-Life Experiences In An ER
MovieStillsDBNearly the entire season takes place in the central hospital’s emergency room, and the cases that come through can be as innocuous as invisible chest pain to as graphic as a skinless limb. The Pitt’s realism has been lauded by critics and medical professionals, but it may be too gory for the average viewer.
Furthermore, The Pitt addresses themes that may be troubling for certain viewers, including suicide to sexual assault to substance misuse. Every patient’s story instills in the audience a deep understanding of how demanding it is to work in an emergency room, as the subject matter is emotionally draining enough for couchsurfing fans, let alone actual doctors.
Robby Has Unhealed Trauma Regarding His Late Mentor
Season 1 Only Rubbed Salt In The Wound
MovieStillsDBAlthough The Pitt is a true ensemble show, Noah Wyle’s Michael “Robby” Robinavitch is the unofficial main character. The senior attending physician steers the proverbial shift, bringing interns and med students into the fold while navigating an onslaught of medical emergencies. Though he initially seems like the hospital’s anchor, Robby unravels throughout The Pitt season 1.
Four years prior to the pilot season, Robby’s mentor died during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pitt season 1 takes place on the anniversary of his death, which haunts Robby more and more as the day drags on. Even after the first season, however, Robby has a long way to go to heal from his unresolved trauma.
Javadi Has A Personal Connection To The Hospital
MovieStillsDBOut of the fresh faces who join PTMC in The Pitt’s series premiere, Victoria Javadi (Shabana Azeez) is by far the youngest, nearly done with medical school at age 20. Her youth causes other doctors to gossip about her, speculating that she was a genius or child prodigy.
Javadi’s role became much more complicated after the arrival of Dr. Eileen Shamsi (Deepti Gupta), a renowned doctor and Javadi’s mother. To an extent, Victoria is a nepotism baby at PTMC, with both parents working at the hospital and displaying sky-high expectations for the young student.
Dana Is Considering Quitting
The Charge Nurse Holds PTMC Together
MovieStillsDBOne character who instantly captured the audience’s heart was Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa), the skilled charge nurse who corralled the emergency room throughout The Pitt’s first season. Yet, a traumatic experience with a disgruntled civilian caused Dana to reconsider her future at the hospital.
After being attacked by an irate man from the ER’s waiting room and continuously tried by exhausting cases all day, Dana’s story ends on an ambiguous note in season 1, with the nurse taking her personal effects home and giving Robby a vague goodbye. Dana is confirmed to return for season 2, but her career doubts surely aren’t gone yet.
McKay Is A Single Mother On Parole
Her Criminal History Was A Point Of Contention
MovieStillsDBInitially, Cassie McKay (Fiona Dourif) seemed like a typical— if not somewhat zany— resident doctor at PTMC. Thanks to Javadi’s blatant curiosity and latent judgment, McKay begins to show the med student her darker edges. As she slowly revealed, McKay has a history of drug misuse and limited custody of her beloved son, Harrison.
McKay’s ankle monitor in The Pitt even led to the doctor’s temporary arrest in episode 14, as she dismantled the malfunctioning monitor to stop its incessant beeping. Regardless of McKay’s parole status, it’s clear that Harrison is her number one priority— and will likely remain such no matter what happens in The Pitt season 2.
Jack Abbot Runs The Night Shifts At PTMC
The Side Character Was A Bona Fide Scene-Stealer
Despite only appearing in five episodes, Jack Abbot (Shawn Hatosy) quickly became a fan-favorite side character. The veteran is the night shift attending at PTMC and Robby’s closest friend, but he truly stole the show in the closing hours of the shift.
Shawn Hatosy’s stellar performance unsurprisingly resulted in one of The Pitt’s triumphs at the Emmys, winning the award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Though he will likely remain a mere recurring or guest role, Abbot’s return is nearly as anticipated as The Pitt itself.
The Pitt Already Has Multiple Romantic Ships Set Up
Every Medical Drama Needs A Bit Of Romance
Most shows like The Pitt throw viewers in the deep end of convoluted workplace romances and slightly inappropriate power imbalances, à la Grey’s Anatomy’s Meredith and Derek. Though The Pitt touted a much more grounded group of characters, certain pairings spread like wildfire in the fandom— and some have a solid basis in the show’s canon.
The most obvious examples are Yolanda Garcia (Alexandra Metz) and Trinity Santos (Isa Briones), who were explicitly shown flirting throughout the first season. Similarly, Abbott and Samira Mohan (Supriya Ganesh) had a few loaded exchanges, which the actors confirmed had underlying romantic tension. Consequently, The Pitt season 2 will only add more romantic intrigue for the PTMC crew.
PTMC Was Rocked By A Mass Casualty Event
The PittFest Shooting Will Have Major Ramifications
The climax of The Pitt season 1 hit when a mass shooting broke out at a nearby music festival. Robby had to operate on— and ultimately call the time of death for— his pseudo son’s girlfriend, while the night shift came in early to help run triage and field and the sudden influx of patients.
The PittFest shooting offered a heavy dose of drama, for better and for worse. Some doctors— like Melissa “Mel” King (Taylor Dearden)— rose to the occasion and proved their mettle in a trial by fire, but The Pitt’s shooter arc was riddled with tension, exacerbated by Robby’s PTSD and Frank Langdon’s (Patrick Ball) addiction coming to light.
Whitaker Has Moved In With Santos
After Their First Shift, The Pair Became An Unlikely Duo
Dennis Whitaker (Gerran Howell) started his PTMC rotation on the wrong foot, with the med student experiencing a comedy of errors that ruined his scrubs over and over again throughout the day. Whitaker seemed promising— albeit a little self-conscious— but his character took on a whole new light in The Pitt season 1’s finale.
After his first shift from hell, Whitaker reveals he’s been secretly living in the hospital. When Santos finds him in an abandoned room, she offers him a more stable place to stay. Since The Pitt season 2 takes place 10 months after the finale, it’s safe to say that Santos and Whitaker will be closer than ever after becoming roommates.
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