Noah Wyle has learned how to embrace his character, Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch’s chaotic life as an ER doctor in The Pitt, which is returning for Season 2.
Blavity/Shadow and Act Film/TV columnist Sharronda Williams spoke with Wyle and the rest of the cast of The Pitt for Blavity ahead of the series’ second season. Wyle said that Robby’s ability to show compassion to his patients without becoming too overwhelmed is by remembering he’s not the one in need.
“The patient’s the one with the problem. That’s what they tell you in med school. …They’re the one who’s sick…they’re the one who’s in pain, not you,” he said. “…It’s part of what allows you to…not take it on. You put up a wall, saying, ‘It’s not me, it’s them. I can help them, but I’m not them.'”
He added, “I think doctors who are compassionate people have a really difficult time navigating that sense of compassion over the long term,” he added. “The more you open yourself up to those human stories, to those tragedies that you’re attending four times an hour, and you take those people on and into your psyche, the more you’re going to need to have a way of bleeding that off down the line, otherwise, you’re going to be a pressure cooker that’s going to pop.”
While Robby might know exactly what to do for his patients, he’s not quite willing to show himself the same level of compassion. His decision to go on a sabbatical might seem like an effort to get himself under control, but Wyle thinks that it’s possibly another way to run away from his issues.
“I don’t think the answers are out there for him. I think they’re in here,” he said. “And I think that’s the scariest place to go.”
Check out the interviews with the rest of the cast above.
When does ‘The Pitt’ Season 2 premiere?
Season 2 of The Pitt premieres Jan. 8 on HBO Max.