Noah Wyle breaks down what The Pitt season two is really about

Each season, Noah Wyle – the lead star, co-writer and co-producer of The Pitt – starts with a guiding idea.

“I had a personal thesis for the first season, which was, ‘the patient is the doctor,’” he says. “And in the second season, it’s ‘doctors don’t make good patients.’”

As the first episode begins, it has been 10 months since season one’s harrowing climax, and the effects are still present – even if they are largely hidden beneath the surface for much of the staff at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Centre’s emergency department.

“I really wanted to take these characters 10 months later, after having gone through a mass casualty event, and say: 'Who’s getting help, who’s not getting help, and who needs help?'” Wyle says. “Who would benefit from help? Who’s running from help? What would help look like for them – and for us?”

It is the Fourth of July, and Wyle’s Dr Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, the attending physician, is working his final shift before taking a three-month sabbatical. The decision, Wyle explains, comes during a crisis of faith – uncertainty over how long he can continue in the role.

“For me, the journey for Robby is about showing the difficulty of being in a leadership position while grappling with a newfound impostor syndrome,” he says. “You don’t feel like you can practise what you’re preaching.

“And moreover, that you may be training people to go into a life’s work that is ultimately unsustainable and, in many cases,