HBO Max's breakout medical drama The Pitt is currently in production on its second season, but the cast recently took a field trip away from set to attend a panel at the TV Academy's Televerse festival in Los Angeles. With 10 cast members in attendance, The Pitt's panel celebrated the show's success (13 Emmy noms!), but along the way, some exciting updates and teases about The Pitt season 2 revealed themselves.
We already know that season 2 will follow a similar format to the first season, where each episode will cover a one-hour period from a single shift at the trauma center. We don't yet know when into the shift we'll start the season, but the season will take place over the 4th of July holiday (and I can already see the firework injuries piling up in the waiting room). Here's what else we learned about The Pitt season 2:
Noah Wyle is directing season 2, episode 6
One of the biggest updates announced during the panel was that Noah Wyle would be directing episode 6 this year. Cast members were especially excited to talk about this because episode 6 is starting to film within the next few days (mid-August 2025).
When asked how he's feeling about getting started, Wyle told the audience he feels "prepped, which is what you want to feel."
Shawn Hatosy is directing an episode in the back half of the season
It was recently announced that Shawn Hatosy, who plays Dr. Jack Abbot, would be directing an episode in season 2. But at Televerse, Hatosy confirmed that he has not yet seen a script for the episode he'll be directing. With episode 6 starting production this mean, and the script for 7 likely already written, this means he'll be directing an episode that's in the back half of the season (somewhere from episode 8 to 15).
We're picking up with Langdon and Santos where we left off
Even though 10 months have passed between seasons, the season 2 premiere will be Langdon's first time seeing Santos.
When talking about where we'll find Langdon and Santos, Patrick Ball said, "We get to dive right back in. All that work of introducing the audience to these people and their problems has been done, and now we get to pick up where we left off and just go into it further. And I think there's a lot of water in the well."
Yes, Whitaker and Santos are still roomies!
The Pitt panel confirmed (accidentally?) that Whitaker and Santos have in fact been roommates for the entire duration between seasons 1 and 2, and yes, they will still be roommates when season 2 starts.
They stayed tight-lipped on what we can expect from their dynamic in new episodes, but Isa Briones teased, "there's a lot of antics up ahead."
Current events in healthcare coverage will affect stories on the show
In early August, we learned that the new season would include storylines involving cuts to Medicare that reflect real-time events in the United States healthcare industry. At the panel, Taylor Dearden expanded on this, saying, "It comes up because how could it not? Having all these restrictions that prevent [doctors] from doing their job is just ridiculous, and it's definitely brought up."
Wyle shared that the writers room once again sat down with various professionals in the healthcare industry to learn about the latest challenges in medicine and their concerns for the future. It's these experiences and discussions that help inspire storylines for The Pitt season 2.
"Events are changing so quickly on the ground right now," Wyle said. "We don't really know what the world's going to look like in 12 months, but there are worst-case scenario models and we're kind of basing off that."
Noah Wyle has already seen rough cuts of the first few episodes of season 2
Yes, Wyle has already seen rough cuts of some new episodes -- and he's loving what he sees! While talking about what it was like to return to set with the cast and crew, he revealed that he "was incredibly gratified to watch the first couple of cuts of the episodes this year," and that he saw in those episodes, "how seamlessly" they all fell back into their characters.
The Pitt season 2 premieres Jan. 8, 2026 on HBO Max and will drop episodes weekly.
Stay tuned for more news about The Pitt season 2!