What HBO Max’s “The Pitt” might have in store for us later this season

BY ASHTYN HANSARD

Digital Media Director

In January 2025, the streaming service HBO Max released its all-new medical drama titled “The Pitt.” While there are plenty of medical dramas already, “The Pitt” has raised the standards and continues to do so as their second season has its weekly releases.

First, let’s do a bit of a recap of season one.

During the first season, viewers quickly realized that this was no ordinary medical show. While many versions of medical dramas focus heavily on the “drama” part, “The Pitt” is all about the medicine and the hospital environment, specifically the emergency room.

Season one takes place during a workday in May. Each of the fifteen episodes makes up one hour of a work shift, meaning the entire season takes place in one day, although it’s not a very normal one.

While the season started out pretty ordinary, by the end, all the doctors and nurses are dealing with being overrun by patients due to a shooting that occurs during a music festival called “Pittfest.”

This isn’t the only heavy subject that the first season hits. 

While the shooting is a very big plotpoint, “The Pitt” also discusses addiction through Dr. Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball), as he gets caught by intern Dr. Trinity Santos (Isa Briones) and head attending Dr. Micheal Robinavitch “Robby” (Noah Wyle), Langdon’s mentor and friend, stealing Librium from a patient.

Another important talking point is the harassment and assaults that happen to nurses and doctors on a more regular basis than we like to think.

Charge Nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa) gets punched in the face by an upset patient, leaving her with an almost broken nose halfway through her shift. Her coworkers rush to defend her, and Perlah Awali (Amielynn Abellera), a registered nurse, responds to the scared student doctors with, “We’ve all been assaulted.”

It’s an upsetting scene, but sadly realistic, which is a major reason why “The Pitt” has received such attention from the world, gaining 60 award nominations and over 20 wins, including five Emmys.

After receiving an Emmy for Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Wyle said in his acceptance speech, “To anybody who is going on shift tonight or who is coming off shift tonight, this one is for you.”

After receiving such a successful audience and fanbase, partially due to its weekly releases and easy rewatchability, season two was greenlit before season one ever concluded. This year, season three was announced before the first episode of season two ever even aired.

On Jan. 8, 2026, the first episode of season two aired on HBO Max, putting us with the same (and some new) characters 10 months after the previous season.

One of the most obvious elephants in the room is the return of Dr. Langdon after finishing his stay at rehab for his addiction. Ball plays Langdon in a much subtle way, letting his personality slowly shine through during the episodes rather than fleshing it all out at once.

There are also introductions to three new doctors and a student nurse. In the first episode, we’re introduced to Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi), a replacement doctor while Robby is out on a three-month sabbatical, student doctors James Ogilvie (Lucas Iverson), Joy Kwon (Irene Choi) and student nurse Emma Nolan (Laëtitia Hollard).

Each of these actors easily brings their characters’ personalities and struggles to the screen, making them feel lived in and real rather than just a character.

On Feb. 5, the fifth episode of “The Pitt” aired, marking the first third of season two being done. Even though there are only 10 more episodes left in the season, I believe we still have a lot left to see.

Firstly, there’s the topic of Robby’s sabbatical. Robby drives a motorcycle with no helmet to work every day, or so it’s insinuated. While this is already odd considering he’s an E.R. Doctor, there is an alarming amount of references about how dangerous a motorcycle is, all mentioned when Robby is in the room.

Normally, I would sweep this under the rug, but “The Pitt” is not the kind of show to give out lines like that and not have them lead anywhere.

Now, I don’t personally think that Robby will get in a crash—or I’m really hoping that doesn’t happen—but I do believe this could be a metaphor for Robby’s life and his concerning lifestyle of walking right on the line of stability and mental distress.

Another plot point I believe we’ll see is with Langdon reconnecting with his colleagues after his sudden absence. At this point, they all know he’s back, but there’s still tension with two characters, specifically, Santos and Robby.

While there’s no confirmation on this happening, I believe that we could see Langdon either show more respect and support to Santos as an attempt to apologize or actually give a direct apology to her.

As for Robby, I feel like it’s a no-brainer for any viewer to assume that we’re going to see a very tense conversation between the two. 

Robby has shown his avoidance of Langdon throughout the entire five episodes that are out. While it can easily be judged as his disappointment in Langdon’s actions, which is understandable, I believe it’s something deeper that ties back to Robby’s own addiction to walking that line in his life.

Robby is able to see Langdon recover and begin healing from his mistakes, while Robby seems to have this mindset of avoidance and repressing his emotions as the better option. I think it’s safe to say that we’ll see those walls break down by the end of the season.

This last one isn’t entirely focused on one patient but rather the show as a whole. 

“The Pitt” has never strayed very far from discussing some controversial topics, such as abortion and racism in the treatment of patients in the first season. As for the second season, we’re already getting glimpses of insurance problems, eating disorders, AI and racism resulting in injury.

Based on the content of the episodes so far and the realism of the show, I am going to make the guess that we’re going to see more on the struggle of families without insurance, discrimination in patient care, the harassment of hospital workers and the pros and cons of using AI in a delicate workplace like the ER.

There will more than likely be more additions throughout the show, but I believe these four will be the main talking points as they’re already such a big focus in the first five episodes.

After “The Pitt” threw some curveballs at fans last season, we can only guess what’s in store for season two.