Noah Wyle Makes A Bold Promise About The Future Of The Pitt On Max

There are so many great TV shows spread across various streaming services, but there's one problem — and it has to do with the fact that they're on streamers in the first place. Without traditional network release schedules, fans of shows like "Severance," "The Last of Us," and "The White Lotus" are left waiting literal years between seasons (no, really; there was a three-year gap between the first and second seasons of "Severance" due to various factors). Thankfully, Noah Wyle — the "ER" veteran who's starring in and executive producing the hit new Max series "The Pitt," told Variety that he hopes he gets to play the short-tempered yet big-hearted Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch for a long time.

Speaking about his hopes and dreams for the show he helped create with fellow "ER" alums R. Scott Gemmill and John Wells, Wyle told interviewer Adam B. Vary that, if he had his way, "The Pitt" would go on for quite some time.

"In a perfect world, this show goes several seasons, so we don't have to rush this process," Wyle told Vary. "It's a really interesting road that he's about to embark on." Still, when Vary pushed back a bit and asked if Wyle thought that, like "ER," "The Pitt" could possibly run for a whopping 15 seasons, Wyle cracked a joke. "I don't know whether we can go 15," he fired back. "What would that make me? 68? 'Dr. Robby, you have to retire!'" (For context, "ER" is the second-longest running primetime medical drama in TV history; first place goes to "Grey's Anatomy.")

Luckily for Noah Wyle, the CEO and chairman of HBO and Max's original content, Casey Bloys, agrees with him — which he discussed in detail during a March interview with Vulture called "Max's Big Bet on 'The Pitt' Paid Off." As Bloys put it, "The Pitt" harkens back to network TV shows of yore, which used to contain over 20 episodes per season, and though "The Pitt" will stick with 15 episodes despite Bloys openly telling interviewer Josef Adalian he wanted more than that, Bloys said he too plans for the show to air every January.

"The other really important thing about this model, and is somewhat of a lost art [...] is, the second season will premiere in January of 2026, a year later," Bloys all but confirmed (considering that he, moreso than Wyle, can make this happen). "This model of more episodes cuts down on the gap between seasons. On the platform, we have shows like 'House of the Dragon,' 'The Last of Us,' and 'White Lotus,' which, because of how they're made, can take two years to make. What I love about something like The Pitt is, I can get 15 episodes in a year. That's a really great addition to what we're already doing on the platform. And I'd like to do more shows in this model." Bloys also told Adalian that his programming slate needs to be "diverse" and that while "The Last of Us" and "House of the Dragon" are great "big-event" shows, they only provide a handful of weeks of audience engagement, and shows like "The Pitt" help keep the schedule full.

Not only that, but Bloys had one more promise up his sleeve ... and so far, he's stuck to this one. Instead of airing new episodes of streaming-only shows in the middle of the night (ahem, Netflix), Bloys had a much better idea for Max. "When I started with the Max platform, I said, 'Why are we releasing shows at midnight?' and I got some answer like, 'Well, when we report the numbers, you want as much data from the night before as possible, blah, blah, blah ...' It didn't make a lot of sense," Bloys said. "People like appointment television. Now look, the majority of the people watching 'The Pitt' or 'The White Lotus' will watch off premiere night. But I do think there is something significant about having a day and time for release. We've all gotten a bit more savvy about how and when people are watching on streaming and how to measure that. So, I believe in releasing shows on a Thursday night or Sunday night." For a Max exclusive like "The Pitt," making it "appointment TV" in this way is brilliant, and it does in fact air on Thursdays at 9 P.M. EST.

Okay, so we know that "The Pitt" will probably (and hopefully) continue for a long time and air once a year, barring any complications ... but how did Noah Wyle find himself involved with the series in the first place after spending 11 seasons as Dr. John Carter on "ER?" As he said in the Variety interview, he felt called to action during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, when people seemed to reach out to him thanks to his years of playing a fictional doctor. After thinking about the toll the onset of the pandemic took on medical health professionals, Wyle wanted to give them a voice on TV, and he did not mince words with Adam B. Vary.

"These people sacrifice so much in the service of others that I find it absolutely infuriating that their expertise is being called into question," Wyle told Vary. "I find it infuriating that we still can't come to a consensus that masks cut down on transmission of disease. I find it infuriating that we still won't acknowledge that vaccines are an important way of eradicating disease. I find it all infuriating that we are where we are right now. So I wanted to make a show that brings back into sharp focus what an objective medical fact is."

Ultimately, what this means is that Wyle is back to performing medicine on our screens, and in the show's 13th episode, he delivers a tour-de-force performance after losing a particular patient that will probably end up serving as his Emmy reel come awards season. Wyle was very hesitant to praise himself or take credit in any way, but when Vary offered praise for a scene where Wyle's Dr. Robby breaks down crying in a pediatric wing serving as a makeshift morgue after a mass casualty incident, Wyle did take the compliment.

"I don't like speaking immodestly, but occasionally I know that I'm good at something and I want to give myself the credit for the technique I've been able to build up over the last 35 years," Wyle replied. "That's when I feel like Kobe Bryant. I get giddy when I'm given an opportunity to show off like that." He should feel giddy, because "The Pitt" is a perfect showcase for an actor like Wyle ... and this time, he has more creative control to boot.

"The Pitt" is streaming on Max now.