Season 1 of “The Pitt” was, to place it calmly, a rollercoaster. As we observe Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Noah Wyle, additionally an integral inventive pressure behind the present and an govt producer) via a hellish, chaotic, and typically even ridiculous 15-hour shift at an overcrowded Pittsburgh hospital, a few of his fellow docs undergo some fairly severe stuff. Chief amongst them is resident Dr. Frank Langdon, performed by newcomer Patrick Ball, who’s, by all appearances, Robby’s protégé … which makes it significantly painful when Langdon does one thing so stunningly incorrect (and unlawful!) and betrays Robby’s belief.
In a bit featured in Vainness Truthful about the second season of “The Pitt,” which is about to air in January 2025 and is in manufacturing as of this writing, Wyle talked about Langdon’s return after his mandated rehabilitation program to take care of his prescription drug dependancy. How is all of this going to work throughout the conceit of “The Pitt,” during which each episode takes up a “actual” hour? How do Robby and Langdon even find yourself working on the identical time after the drama of Langdon’s aforementioned betrayal?
“Robby is occurring a sabbatical tomorrow for 3 months on a motorbike, and was actually hoping to not see [Langdon] right now — however one thing received screwed up within the scheduling, so that they ended up overlapping,” Wyle defined within the piece. He continued:
“Langdon has walked the penitent street and he has achieved every part he must do to maintain his medical license in verify. He’ll face his colleagues, who could or could not know that he had an dependancy drawback. All of that may be very commendable. However there is a private betrayal that Robby feels that’s going to be even more durable for him to stand up and over on the opposite aspect of.”
“In season one …[Langdon] is on the top of his confidence and on the top of his allure and his capability,” Ball mentioned in the identical characteristic. “After which he will get knocked good and completely off of that.”
Frankly, I discover it a bit of laughable that an emergency room physician like Robby would even go close to a motorbike — certainly one of my finest buddies is a surgical resident and has warned me towards ever driving one — however I will settle for this rationalization. In any case, what did go down between Robby and Langdon in season 1 of “The Pitt?”
What precisely occurred between Robby and Langdon throughout season 1 of The Pitt?
After we first meet Dr. Frank Langdon in season 1 of “The Pitt,” he is a star resident who works carefully with Dr. Robby — to the purpose the place Robby even tells Langdon that he submitted his pupil for a prestigious fellowship. It is clear, even to the untrained eye of viewers members who do not work in drugs, that Langdon is sweet at his job, and all through his shift, he even picks up a protégé of his personal: second-year resident Dr. Mel King, performed by Taylor Dearden. This all comes crumbling down when one of many interns, Dr. Trinity Santos (Isa Briones), grows suspicious of Langdon and ideas Robbie off about lacking remedy within the emergency division. Because it seems, Langdon was stealing Librium, a drug that helps with alcohol withdrawal, and within the episode titled “4:00 P.M.,” Robby fires Langdon.
Although Langdon returns in “6:00 P.M.” to assist the emergency room deal with the victims of a devastating mass taking pictures, he and Robby have a knock-down, drag-out argument as soon as the carnage has cleared up considerably. Langdon begs for a second likelihood, and Robby, unwilling to forgive his pal and colleague, tells Langdon he must go to rehab and continues to be in peril of doubtless shedding his medical license. In an interview with Selection in June 2025, Patrick Ball mentioned that season 2 of “The Pitt” takes place 10 months after the primary concludes, so he is accomplished 3 months of remedy — and the particular timeframe, which is on the July 4 weekend, will current some nice storytelling alternatives. “There’s gonna be numerous alternatives that pop up on July 4th weekend, which I believe is thrilling,” Ball shared. “And I believe additionally having Langdon be away in rehab for this time period after which reenter this workspace additionally presents the writers with numerous alternatives.”
“When Langdon walks again within the door, individuals are completely different and issues have modified, and I do not fairly know what has occurred whereas I used to be gone,” he continued. “That presents a enjoyable new recreation for the writers, that the viewers will get to find out about what has modified and transpired within the time away via Langdon. So my absence supplies the writers with a extremely helpful machine, and it will be subjectively from Langdon’s perspective.”
The bond between Robby and Langdon is certainly one of The Pitt’s most significant and fraught relationships
There is a transient however welcome second of levity in the direction of the top of season 1 of “The Pitt,” and it entails each Dr. Frank Langdon and Dr. Robby. After Langdon’s grand return, each males rush as much as beleaguered cost nurse Dana Evans, performed by Katherine LaNasa, to ask if the opposite is gossiping about him, driving her understandably loopy (keep in mind that, earlier within the season’s “day,” Dana received her nostril damaged by a disgruntled affected person). This factors to the truth that the mentor-mentee relationship between Robby and Langdon is extremely important to the collection, whether or not Robby likes that or not. As for Langdon, as Patrick Ball identified within the Vainness Truthful piece,
“You already know, it is attention-grabbing. I am in my prince-era right here,” Ball mentioned in his Selection interview, which additionally centered on a manufacturing of “Hamlet” that Ball led in Los Angeles on the Mark Taper Discussion board whereas additionally showing in season 2 of “The Pitt.” Ball continued:
“Langdon was the prince of this emergency division, and now he is fairly a disgraced prince, very very similar to Hamlet, in that he is now reentering this workspace having been taken down fairly just a few pegs. And will probably be very attention-grabbing to see how that workspace feels completely different and the way he feels completely different in it and the way different individuals deal with him. Popping out of rehab, I believe, can be a extremely juicy story to inform. I do not know that a lot about what they’ve deliberate as a result of the writers are nonetheless very arduous at work. However I’m simply dreaming up myself what’s coming, as a result of I believe there’s numerous story to inform.”
Ball is spot on — Langdon was an attention-grabbing and compelling character in season 1, however watching him emerge from what’s hopefully his all-time low and turn into a greater doctor and particular person in season 2 will seemingly be fascinating. Season 1 of “The Pitt” is streaming on HBO Max now, and once more, season 2 ought to arrive in January 2026.
Should you or anybody wants assist with dependancy points, assist is accessible. Go to the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Companies Administration web site or contact SAMHSA’s Nationwide Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
