After The Pitt season 1 episode 15 drops on Max, we'll all be getting discharged from our new favorite medical drama series. Yes, it's true: When episode 15 of The Pitt begins streaming on Max on Thursday, April 10 at 9/8c, there are no additional episodes of season 1 coming to your watch list. There's no episode 16 since Max ordered 15 episodes for season 1. That's the first season finale, and we'll have to stay patient for the currently in-the-works season 2.
It's definitely a bummer that there aren't more episodes of The Pitt season 1 on Max, but the streamer already made the series' episode count significantly larger than what's become the new normal on streaming. Most shows are only eight or 10 episodes, if that, while some can even be four episodes, like Netflix latest hit limited series Adolescence. Netflix's own medical drama series Pulse only ran for 10 episodes, while The Pitt opted for a total that more closely resembles broadcast or cable television.
As mentioned above, Max already went ahead and renewed The Pitt season 2, long before the series become a viral word-of-mouth sensation. The renewal occurred in February around the season's halfway mark, and new viewers continued to discover and binge-watch the show. Over the course of its 15-episode run, the show has blown up in popularity. Season 2's expected to have the same amount of episodes, and let's not be shocked when streamers start adopting the 15 episode method.
The Pitt season 2 already began production
While speaking at a recent television event, The Pitt's creator R. Scott Gemmill, executive producer John Wells, and star/executive producer Noah Wyle revealed the news that fans of the series desperately wanted but likely were not expecting so soon. The trio announced that just a few short months after filming wrapped on season 1, production has started on season 2. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that cameras have started rolling just yet, but the season's in the works.
The creative appears to already been deep into the planning stages as the trio also shared with fans that The Pitt season 2 will take place 10 months after the events of the season 1 finale and be set during the Fourth of July holiday weekend. That summertime holiday setting allows for plenty of interesting traumas to come through the hospital for Dr. Robby and his team to attend to. We'll also get to learn what's happened in the nearly one year since season 1's shift ended.
Don't expect The Pitt to drop its real-time formatting either. The second season will maintain the formula that worked so well with season 1, which found each hour-long episode depicting one hour of a single 15-hour emergency room shift. But there are different stakes since so many shifts will have elapsed and so much personal drama will have happened when we catch back up with the characters. Toss in a busier than normal summer holiday weekend and you've got great television.
In addition to all the good things we already know about The Pitt season 2, we also already have an idea of when the new season will starting airing on Max. The streamer's boss Casey Bloys said that season 2 will premiere in January 2026, as he wants to keep the show on the air each year without any long breaks. That's quite the welcome change of pace when audiences have started to wait upwards of a year, two, or even three years for the next seasons of their favorite shows.
Considering that The Pitt should score a number of Emmy nominations for its first season, it's no wonder Bloys doesn't want to keep the show away for too long. It's smart to keep the show fresh in everyone's minds, and at the end of the day, we're all loving it and want some more of it! Deservedly, it's one of the most critically acclaimed new shows of the year so far, as it's been praised for its realism in portraying the medical field. There's nowhere to go but up for season 2!