The Pitt Producers Confirm Whether Katherine LaNasa's Dana Will Return

This article contains a discussion of mass violence.

To say that Dana Evans, the experienced charge nurse played by Katherine LaNasa on HBO's hit medical series "The Pitt," is at the end of her rope by the time Season 1 concludes is a serious understatement. Within her 15-hour shift — the show's conceit, like "24" years ago, is that it takes place "in real time" — Dana gets punched by an angry patient, watches as doctors and nurses suffer through a mass casualty incident, and deals with two messy doctors, Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch (star and executive producer Noah Wyle) and his disgraced protégé Dr. Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball), who both feel the need to come up to her and ask if she's heard gossip about either of them. It's a doozy! That's probably why, in the Season 1 finale "9:00 P.M.," Dana tells Langdon she might just up and quit ... and she does clear her workspace of personal items before heading home from her shift.

Dana is one of the show's best characters — which is saying something, because to be honest, they're all pretty great — and it would be a huge loss if she and LaNasa didn't return for Season 2 (which is already confirmed and set to arrive on Max in January 2026, one year after its initial premiere). Thankfully, in an interview with TVLine, showrunner and creator R. Scott Gemmill and Wyle both clarified that Dana is coming back ... but the woman just needs a break (and deserves one).

In that interview, TVLine writer Ryan Schwartz pressed Noah Wyle and R. Scott Gemmill about Dana's future, getting pretty blunt about how great Dana (and Katherine LaNasa) are on "The Pitt." As Schwartz said to them, "I'd argue Katherine LaNasa is the beating heart of this show. We're not losing Dana... right?"

"One of the things that is tricky when you're making a very realistic hospital show is that not everybody stays in the hospital forever, you know?" Wyle said, sort of indicating that maybe the show would lose Dana after all. "So, the longer the show goes, the more we're going to have to reconcile with the realities of where people would be — not just in terms of their emotional life in the hospital, but where they would be in their matriculation." Thankfully, he said that doesn't apply to Dana.

"But, obviously, I can't get rid of Katherine," Wyle continued. Obviously, Dana is an important part [of this show]. But Dana choosing to come back — if she chooses to come back, and how she comes back, and what Dana is like having made the decision to come back, and what she's going to allow this place to either do or not do to her going forward, becomes the stuff that, you know, is the grist for the mill."

"In terms of Katherine, I think if next season were to take place the next day or the next week, you wouldn't see Dana," Gemmill added. "I think she needs to take some time off to really talk to her husband, talk about what she wants out of life.... I think when she comes back, she's going to have a bit of an attitude adjustment, though. She'll be even less tolerant of bulls—t. She's going to be much more protective of her flock." 

Everything that Noah Wyle and R. Scott Gemmill said about Dana in that interview is totally spot on, because to say she had a rough day is an understatement. Right off the bat, she's acutely aware that, during this particular workday, Wyle's Dr. Robby is in a weird place mentally because it's the anniversary of the death of his mentor, who died during the thick of the COVID-19 crisis at this very hospital. Dana seems to know what's going on with every single person in her emergency room (which does make sense, because she's a charge nurse and has, by her own admission, been working this job for well over 30 years), so as she keeps a close eye on Robby, she also has to do her job and corral new medical students, interns, and residents spending their first day at the Pittsburgh hospital.

The aforementioned attack from a patient happens in the season's 9th episode, "3:00 P.M.," as that hour draws to a close. After hours at work, Dana goes outside for a cigarette when Doug Driscoll (Drew Powell), a patient who's been causing problems in the ER's waiting room by hurling racist insults at staffers and patients alike and complaining that he hasn't been seen, sucker-punches her and knocks her to the ground before leaving the premises. Dana goes into the ER with a freely bleeding nose and a huge black eye, and that's definitely not a fun experience to have at work, to say the least. A few hours later, the ER receives over a hundred patients who were caught in a mass shooting at a local Pittsburgh festival (aptly named PittFest), and Dana stands by Robby and helps him as Leah (Sloan Mannino), girlfriend of Robby's surrogate son Jake (Taj Speights), dies from a gunshot wound to the heart on a gurney (despite Robby's very best efforts). 

Still, it's great to know that Dana will be back after all. "The Pitt" is streaming on Max now, so you can watch Dana's entire horrible shift there — and if you've already binged "The Pitt," check out these shows next.

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