Season 1 of The Pitt might have just ended, but don’t expect to have to wait a few years before the next season finally arrives!
One of the most frustrating things about streaming originals these days is falling in love with a new show, getting less than 10 episodes in a season, and then having to wait for over a year for a new season to finally arrive. Thankfully, Warner Bros. is committed to making sure The Pitt fans won’t have to wait an extended period between seasons with a commitment to fans to bring them new seasons annually.
In a new interview with Deadline, Channing Dungey, Chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Television Group, confirmed the studio is committed to bringing fans new seasons of The Pitt on an annual cadence meaning that fans won’t have to wait some crazy amount of time between seasons and can bank on the next season of the series being ready to release sometime in 2026.
“One of the reasons that we wanted to have an early renewal is because we want to keep it on an annual cadence. That’s the other part of this broadcast-style model. You fall in love with these [streaming] shows, you see eight episodes, and then you have to wait 18 months for there to be more. The whole promise of The Pitt was that we would be on an annual cadence, and we’re going to be able to make that happen.”
The annual release is a welcome change for streaming fans, many whom have come to expect that new seasons of streaming originals will take more than a year to produce. That, thankfully, will not be the case with The Pitt meaning we’re not going to have to wait years for a new season. In fact, we’re likely only a few months away from new episodes arriving.
Given how successful season 1 has been, we imagine that the goal is to film season 2 in time for the show to return at the beginning of 2026 with a January 2026 release entirely possible for the show. The show has become one of the biggest Max originals and there is no reason for Max to delay the show’s return to summer or fall 2026 when so many viewers showed up for the show’s first season over the course of its 15-episode run.
Speaking of which, it seems season 2 will be just as long as season 1 or possibly even longer. It seems Max is planning another 15-episode season, but there is a conversation going on about possibly extending the season 2 episode count by a few episodes. Just don’t quite expect season 2 to be 22 episodes as Dungey did confirm they’re not looking to do a broadcast size 22-episode season for The Pitt.
Honestly, while 22 episodes is always nice, we're not sure if we need a 22-episode season of The Pitt. The show's 15-episode format in season 1 felt perfectly timed with the pacing of the storylines explored in the first season, without a need for fluff or a feeling that we didn't get enough episodes. It was defintely a nice change of pace as well to get a 15-episode show on streaming where so many streamers are cutting episode counts, resulting in smaller 6-8 episode seasons that often leave fans unsatisfied.
It’s nice to know that Warner Bros. and Max are actively working to ensure fans aren’t going to have to wait more than a year for The Pitt season 2 to arrive and are going to continue to bring them a decent length season of the show!