Noah Wyle may end up being the only former ER series regular to appear on The Pitt, but in a new interview, the actor says “never say never” to an onscreen ER reunion on the latter medical drama.
“The success of this show has brought to our awareness that there’s some really high-profile actors that would love to come on our show, and it’s super tempting to want to go after them, but you run the risk of it being a little distracting,” Wyle tells Variety.
And any distractions would be detrimental to The Pitt’s mission of depicting the lives of healthcare workers in a broken healthcare system in a fractured American society.
“One of the great things about Cathy Sandrich, our casting director, is she brings in these people that you may know that work, but you don’t necessarily bring their intended baggage to the role that they’re playing for us; you’re able to believe them totally in the situation that we’re presenting,” Wyle adds. “I feel like that’s a model that’s worth playing out as long as we can. [But] if there’s a role that requires somebody that has some real gravitas, that requires bringing somebody that would have a frame of reference, that’s really when it’s fun to bring those people in.”
NBC/Courtesy: Everett Collection
Those people include other ER alums like George Clooney, Julianna Margulies, Eriq La Salle, and Anthony Edwards.
As it stands, more than two dozen people in front of and behind the camera have both ER and The Pitt on their filmographies, including some Pitt mainstays.
For example, Katherine LaNasa, who stars as Dana Evans on The Pitt, guest-starred in a Season 9 episode of ER. Shawn Hatosy, who plays Dr. Jack Abbot, popped up in ER Season 13, as did Michael Hyatt, who plays Gloria. And Tracy Vilar, who recurs on The Pitt as Lupe Perez, recurring in ER’s fourth season.
And, of course, former ER executive producer R. Scott Gemmill created The Pitt and serves as an EP on the HBO Max show alongside fellow ER EP John Wells and Wyle himself.
The Pitt, Season 2, January 2026, HBO Max