Noah Wyle revealed Monday that his mother, who worked for decades as a nurse, had a more intense reaction to one of his scenes in “The Pitt” than anything she ever saw in his 15 years on “ER.”
“My mother was an orthopedic nurse and an operating room nurse,” Wyle explained on NPR’s “Fresh Air.” “She came over for breakfast last Sunday. And she came into the kitchen, and within five seconds of being there, she said, ‘You know, Noah, I can’t stop thinking about last week’s episode and that scene where you were listing all the people who died.’”
In Episode 13 of “The Pitt,” Wyle’s Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch has a breakdown after he tries unsuccessfully to comfort Jake (Taj Speights), the son of an ex he’s still close with, following the death of his girlfriend. Overwhelmed by the sheer number of victims who have poured into the ER from the same concert shooting that killed Leah (Sloan Mannino), Jake’s girlfriend, Robby breaks down into shaking sobs when Jake asks why he could not save her.
Before he forces Jake out of the room, Robby lists every patient who died throughout the first 13 episodes of “The Pitt” Season 1. It was that moment, in particular, that apparently struck a chord with Wyle’s mother.
“‘I had my own PTSD reaction,’” Wyle said his mom told him about her reaction to the “Pitt” scene in question. “‘I suddenly remembered everybody. I remembered the 4-year-old. I remembered the pregnant woman with the baby. I remembered the gang member that I tried to keep alive by squeezing two units of blood.’ And she’s just listing these names. And she’s, you know, getting teary-eyed, and she finishes.”
“The Pitt” is not, of course, Wyle’s first medical drama. The actor also portrayed Dr. John Carter on NBC’s “ER” for well over a decade. “I said, ‘My goodness, Mom, I was on a medical show for 15 years. You never told me that.’ And she says, ‘Well, that wasn’t real,’ and I said, ‘Well, this one wasn’t either.’ And she said, ‘But it felt real, and it brought all that up for me. Isn’t that funny?’” Wyle recalled. “Here I am in my own kitchen having this lovely, sort of cathartic and catalytic moment with my mother.”
“I asked her, I said, ‘The 4-year-old, when was that?’” he continued. “She said, ‘Oh, I think your brother was probably about four at the time. I think that’s why it hit me.’ And then I thought to myself, ‘Oh, so you came home and you made us dinner that night, and you helped us with our homework? Wow.’”
Wyle’s mother is not the only one who found Dr. Robby’s breakdown in “The Pitt” moving and memorable. The actor has received widespread praise for his performance in that scene, and he is expected to generate considerable awards attention for his work throughout the entire first season of “The Pitt,” which has already emerged as one of 2025’s biggest TV hits.
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