Why Noah Wyle Returned to the ER in The Pitt After Avoiding Medical Dramas 'for the Longest Time' (Exclusive)

Over 30 years after Noah Wyle first broke out onscreen as Dr. John Carter on the hit NBC series ER, the Emmy-nominated actor is back in scrubs for The Pitt.

Returning to a hospital setting “was like getting to go back to high school,” Wyle, 53, tells PEOPLE in this week's issue. “It was like picking up an instrument that I haven’t played in 15 years and finding that my fingers still knew where the notes were.” 

But Wyle admits, he “didn’t want to do anything in this [medical genre] for the longest time, for obvious reasons."

What pushed him to sign on for The Pitt “was an opportunity to shine the spotlight back on the first responders who really need it right now.” He explains that the show offers "a vehicle for people to go on a journey and get a new look at what hospitals are like and what healthcare is like these days."

The drama unfolds over one 15-hour shift inside a Pittsburgh-area emergency room as Wyle’s Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch cares for patients, guides a young staff of doctors and tries to keep his pandemic-related PTSD in check.

“It was like doing a tour of duty,” Wyle says. “People might want to binge and see if they can stay on their feet as long as Robby is on his feet.”

Getting the show made was a well-fought journey for Wyle, who serves as an executive producer and writer. "I really wanted this show to happen. I wanted to put this on the air, and I knew this was an important story to tell," he says.

Adding, "I don't know that I've ever really forced myself to leave my comfort zone and act as aggressively and pursue something as I have with this. This was extremely important to me and I surprised myself with how far I was willing to go to make it happen and how hard I was willing to work."

He teamed with ER alums, including series creator and showrunner R. Scott Gemmill and executive producer John Wells. Initially, he says they didn't want to do The Pitt "unless we could come up with something that we felt was necessary to say, or new to say," especially knowing that if not they "would really risk ruining the legacy" they all built with ER.

"So knowing that that was on our shoulders not to mess up, we were extremely thoughtful about how to go about this and it's been really gratifying," Wyle says.

To Wyle's credit, the series — which Max announced has been renewed for a second season ahead of its season 1 finale on April 10 — offers a fresh perspective on the well-worn hospital-based genre and shines a much-needed different light on the lives of medical professionals.

In addition to Wyle's character, Dr. Robby — an overworked and burdened senior attending physician, who is a far cry from Carter's early days as bright-eyed medical student — the ensemble is filled out by Tracey Ifeachor as senior resident Dr. Heather Collins, Patrick Ball as Robby's right hand man Dr. Frank Langdon, Fiona Dourif as second year resident Dr. Cassie McKay, Taylor Dearden as fellow resident Dr. Melissa "Mel" King, Gerran Howell as fourth-year medical student Dennis Whitaker and Isa Briones as intern Dr. Trinity Santos.

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All of them bring their own baggage, varying expertise and, of course, clashing personalities to the emergency room — with much of the drama unfolding over decisions made while navigating the balance between quality and efficiency of patient care.  

"There's always moments where things were, like, gonna fall apart or that the idea's gonna get away from you or that there's gonna be concessions or compromises made that will make it half of what you wanted, which would almost make it worse than never if you'd never tried at all," he says of pushing to get the series made. 

The actor adds, "So, it's been an education, and I've learned so much from John and Scott and watching them navigate the waters of development have been really significant — and I'm grateful for it."

The Pitt is also "a lovely bookend" to his career, which was kickstarted with ER. The actor notes that "the storytelling is from the perspective of where Anthony Edwards' character [Dr. Mark Greene] was — except for the fact that I'm 20 years older than Anthony was when we did it." 

New episodes of The Pitt debut Thursdays on Max.