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Max's medical drama is getting ready for another grueling shift

Noah Wyle, The Pitt
Warrick Page/MaxThe first season of Max's The Pitt took us through one of the most painful and grueling possible days in the emergency room of Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital, and none of our favorite characters came out the other side unscathed. As Donahue (Brandon Mendez Homer) said while shaking off the day, which was filled with rats, a stolen ambulance, and a mass shooting event at a local music festival, "Today was a mothaf---a." But it made for amazing television! And along the way, The Pitt became one of the most talked about TV series of the year, with an eye on this year's Emmys. (Noah Wyle, please save some room on your mantel.)
The Pitt is a reunion for ER vets John Wells, R. Scott Gemmill, and Noah Wyle, and followed one truly abnormal shift over 15 hours, with each of the 15 episodes covering an hour of work. It also happened to be the first day on the job for a group of medical students learning the gig, and given how brutal their introduction to the ER was, it might be their last day, too.
As our hero, Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch (Wyle), walked home with a roadie beer at the end of a day that saw him have a mental breakdown, fans of the show had one question: When does the next shift start? The good news is that The Pitt has been renewed for Season 2, which is now in production. Let's hope Dr. Robby and everyone else in the Pitt can handle it. Here's everything we know about The Pitt Season 2.
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The very first teaser for Season 2 of The Pitt has landed, and you should absolutely check it out below.
This 45-second teaser is not exactly heavy on plot, though of course we do get glimpses at lots of returning folks, as well as the new attending physician played by Sepidah Moafi, amid the out-of-context action shots. It certainly seems as though it'll be another very busy day, but there's no sign here of anything as intense as Season 1's mass shooting.
In an era when waiting for new seasons of television can take years, The Pitt is leaning into the reliability of its medical procedural ancestors and plans to release new seasons annually. Production kicked off on the new season in June 2025, and Max has confirmed that The Pitt Season 2 will debut in January 2026. For reference, Season 1 premiered on Jan. 9, 2025.

Noah Wyle and Ken Kirby, The Pitt
Warrick Page/MaxTo mark the start of filming, Max released a first-look photo (above) from the set, which shows Wyle's Dr. Robby and Ken Kirby's Dr. Shen arriving at work. It all looks like business as usual — down to Dr. Shen's iced coffee — but devoted fans have already picked up on one mysterious detail: Since this season is expected to be set around the Fourth of July, why is Dr. Robby wearing that coat?
The Pitt isn't changing its "day in the life" format for Season 2 and will cover another shift at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital. Speaking at Deadline's Contenders TV event in early April, executive producer and showrunner R. Scott Gemmill said Season 2 will once again take place in roughly real time, this time 10 months after the Season 1 finale, on the Fourth of July. Don't expect a much more relaxing day than Season 1; July 4 is routinely one of the busiest days in emergency rooms. (Missing fingers from a fireworks mishap are almost a guarantee in Season 2, no?) Wyle told Variety that Season 2 will "stay the course" and stick close to the formula of Season 1, meaning we can expect the show to follow more single-episode and multi-episode medical cases, while also detailing the emotional and bureaucratic difficulties these medical professionals face. Why change what works so well?
The time jump means we can also expect to see how Dr. Robby is facing up to his own problems following his breakdown. "I think in some ways Season 1 was about recognizing that he has a pit. We have a pit," Wyle told TV Guide. "Season 2 is about, how do we climb out?" But Season 2 will find time for levity, too, especially now that Santos (Isa Briones) and Whitaker (Gerran Howell) will be roommates. Gemmill teased to Entertainment Weekly, "I would expect a lot of buddy comedy out of those two. As much as we can muster."
Additionally, Taylor Dearden, who plays Dr. Mel King, told Collider that Wyle will direct an episode of the second season. Wyle will also write four episodes after previously writing two during Season 1.
And there is a slight chance that we could spend even more time in the emergency room in Season 2. Though the plan is to stick with 15 episodes, Warner Bros. TV head Channing Dungey told Deadline that they aren't ruling out more. "There was a conversation about doing a little bit more," Dungey said in April. "I think right now, we're still looking at 15 as the model. If it ends up going up from there, it would probably only be by a couple of episodes, certainly not all the way to 22."
ALSO READ: The Pitt's Noah Wyle reveals 'the straw that breaks Dr. Robby' in Season 1 finale

Supriya Ganesh, Shabana Azeez, Brandon Mendez Homer, and Fiona Dourif, The Pitt
John Johnson/MaxIn July 2025, TVLine reported that Tracy Ifeachor will not return as Dr. Heather Collins in Season 2. The move was reportedly a behind-the-scenes story decision, rather than Ifeachor quitting.
In June 2025, Deadline reported that The L Word: Generation Q's Sepidah Moafi will play a new attending physician, joining Season 2 as a series regular.
Shortly before Moafi's casting, The Pitt Season 2 added four actors to its recurring cast: Charles Baker as Troy, an unhoused man and a patient in the ED; Irene Choi as Joy, a third-year medical student; Laëtitia Hollard as Emma, a recent nursing school graduate; and Lucas Iverson as James, a fourth-year medical student.
It's worth noting that the work fates of some other major players were left open at the end of Season 1, including charge nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa), who was seriously considering quitting after her brutal shift. Dr. Frank Langdon's (Patrick Ball) career is also at risk after he was caught nicking meds from patients for his own use.
Gemmill has already reassured fans that Langdon has a future on the show, telling Variety, "I do expect to see Langdon again," since the time jump will have given him time to complete his 30-day inpatient program. As for Dana, Gemmill told Entertainment Weekly, "I think when Dana leaves, she's very intent on leaving for good... But she's a trooper and that place is her home and she's kind of like the den mother. So I think it would be hard for her, difficult for her to stay away as well. But when she does come back, I imagine she would be a little bit different."
When a show is as successful as The Pitt is, it's natural for a network to ask how to get more out of it, especially considering that it's a procedural built for the streaming era. When the producers were asked about the possibilities of a spin-off following the night shift or franchising it out like NCIS or CSI (The Pitt: Philly just sounds wrong!), they reiterated that their focus is on Season 2 but didn't rule anything out.
"It's possible that there will be a season of the show that takes place on the night shift," John Wells told TVLine. "Whether we would franchise it after…? I think that it would be a little arrogant on our part to think that there's that much enthusiasm for the show [already]. It's nice to keep people excited about when it comes back [for Season 2] before we start thinking about how we do five versions of something."
"I think, in success, I would love to do a night shift [season]," Gemmill told TV Line in the same interview. "We talked about it. It just comes with its own difficulties. I would also love to do a shift in the winter time in Pittsburgh."
The Pitt is a Max exclusive. You'll need a subscription to Max to watch it.