Season 1 of “The Pitt” was, to place it frivolously, a rollercoaster. As we comply with Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Noah Wyle, additionally an integral artistic drive behind the present and an government producer) via a hellish, chaotic, and generally even ridiculous 15-hour shift at an overcrowded Pittsburgh hospital, a few of his fellow docs undergo some fairly critical 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 flawed (and unlawful!) and betrays Robby’s belief.
In a bit featured in Self-importance 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 cope with his prescription drug habit. How is all of this going to work inside the conceit of “The Pitt,” by 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 bike, and was actually hoping to not see [Langdon] right now — however one thing acquired 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 thing he must do to maintain his medical license in test. He’ll face his colleagues, who could or could not know that he had an habit downside. 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 rise up and over on the opposite facet of.”
“In season one …[Langdon] is on the peak of his confidence and on the peak of his attraction and his potential,” Ball stated in the identical characteristic. “After which he will get knocked good and totally off of that.”
Frankly, I discover it a bit laughable that an emergency room physician like Robby would even go close to a bike — one in all my finest associates is a surgical resident and has warned me in opposition to ever driving one — however I will settle for this clarification. 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 scholar 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 suggestions Robbie off about lacking medicine 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 probability, and Robby, unwilling to forgive his buddy and colleague, tells Langdon he must go to rehab and continues to be in peril of probably dropping 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 therapy — and the precise timeframe, which is on the July 4 weekend, will current some nice storytelling alternatives. “There’s gonna be loads of alternatives that pop up on July 4th weekend, which I feel is thrilling,” Ball shared. “And I feel additionally having Langdon be away in rehab for this time period after which reenter this workspace additionally presents the writers with loads of alternatives.”
“When Langdon walks again within the door, individuals are totally 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 sport 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 offers the writers with a extremely helpful machine, and it will be subjectively from Langdon’s viewpoint.”
The bond between Robby and Langdon is one in all The Pitt’s most important and fraught relationships
There is a temporary 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 acquired 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 sequence, whether or not Robby likes that or not. As for Langdon, as Patrick Ball identified within the Self-importance Truthful piece,
“, it is fascinating. I am in my prince-era right here,” Ball stated 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 fascinating to see how that workspace feels totally different and the way he feels totally different in it and the way different individuals deal with him. Popping out of rehab, I feel, 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 feel there’s loads of story to inform.”
Ball is spot on — Langdon was an fascinating and compelling character in season 1, however watching him emerge from what’s hopefully his all-time low and develop into a greater doctor and individual in season 2 will possible 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 you recognize wants assist with habit points, assist is on the market. Go to the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Providers Administration web site or contact SAMHSA’s Nationwide Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).