The Pitt Season 2's New Med Students Are A Good Sign For The Show's Future

The Pitt season 2 sees several new characters join the front lines in the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital. In season 1, the audience becomes intimately familiar with Dr. Michael Robinavitch and the doctors and nurses who man the department affectionately deemed "The Pitt."

The Pitt season 2 sees many of the same old faces return, with some central figures having disappeared to move on to new ventures. However, there are also a handful of new arrivals, with two new student doctors and a newly graduated nurse joining the team and learning from these incredibly skilled medical professionals.

Every New Student In The Pitt Season 2 Explained

Last season, Dennis Whitaker, Trinity Santos, Melissa King, and Victoria Javadi all experienced one of the most intense and traumatic first days possible as they worked through a mass shooting and saw the ER transformed into a crisis center. However, each of these characters has now qualified as Doctors, and they are taking part in training up-and-coming residents.

First up, James Ogilvie, played by Lucas Iverson, is a smart and competitive student doctor who isn't afraid to speak his mind. Unfortunately, he also appears to lack empathy at times, and can appear insensitive while pushing to gain medical experience. In many ways, this resembles Trinity Santos during her first day at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital.

Next, Irene Choi is playing Joy Kwon. Kwon is a very different doctor to her colleague, and is more than wiling to take a backseat and let others answer questions. However, she appears highly competent and capable, just unwilling to take up a challenge and compete in the workplace.

Finally, Laëtitia Hollard plays Emma, a recent graduate from nursing school who has arrived ready to train under the supervision of the charge nurse, Dana Evans. Emma appears hopeful, helpful, and kind. She may also be struggling to know exactly what to expect out of her time in the ER.

All three of these new characters have unique personalities and are already beginning to form connections with others that will set them up for whatever their future will be in The Pitt.

The Pitt's Teaching Hospital Setting Means The Cast Will Keep Changing

One defining feature of the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital is the fact that it is a training hospital. The team are set up and familiar with the process of training new doctors and nurses in order to prepare them to work either in their building and department, or to move on and join a team elsewhere.

This can also be seen in the fact that some doctors, like Heather Collins, are absent from The Pitt season 2. Whether this is due to the character moving on, or the show's unique format of playing out in real time and each season covering a single shift, it wouldn't make sense to have the exact same team of people on shift every time.

But more than that, they will regularly take in new students, train them up, and see them move on. Fortunately, it appears as though Whitaker, Javadi, Santos, and King will be around for a while longer, but it makes sense for the cast to regularly be changed out, and for new faces to appear.

The Pitt Season 2's New Characters Prove How Long The Show Can Run

This feature also provides an added benefit to the series, giving the show greater potential for longevity. Other shows, and even medical dramas, have all suffered from casts rotating and shifting. Whether that's because a beloved character dies, moves away, or moves on, it all ends up the same with familiar characters disappearing from the story.

This makes the shows reliant on core characters, rather than a concept or setting, and if the wrong person moves on, the show can lose its vigor. Now, in the context of The Pitt, Dr. Robby might just be such a character, but theoretically, most of the others could be changed in and out.

The characters may become more beloved over time, and people will surely develop stronger connections with some over others, but building into the foundation of the story that these characters will change is a genius move to keep the story moving, and avoid an over-reliance on a single character.

As long as a few familiar faces remain, and the story continues to deliver compelling and intense results, then there is no reason the show can't be carried on for many more seasons. New doctors can join the team, like Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi, to lead them forward even when Dr. Robby isn't present. Meanwhile, the students can rotate and change.

Clearly, The Pitt has created a way of almost future proofing the story, and keeping things fresh in a way that actually makes sense for the show. As long as they continue to deliver results on all other sides, there is no reason new doctors like Ogilvie and Kwon couldn't become central figures in future seasons, or a new nurse like Emma couldn't take over from Dana at some point in the future of The Pitt.