'The Pitt' Fans Shouldn't Expect Another PittFest Disaster in Season 2, but EPs Warn "There Will Be Some Hiccups"

Editor's note: The below interview contains spoilers up to The Pitt Season 2 Episode 6.

With HBO's The Pitt finally returning for Season 2, things are only beginning to get more intense for the doctors and nurses of the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. While the early hours of this Fourth of July shift were admittedly quiet, that's no longer the case as of the season's sixth installment of R. Scott Gemmill, John Wells, and Noah Wyle's medical drama, "12:00 P.M." Other hospitals are diverting patients to the ED due to a mysterious "Code Black," and now one of the Pitt's most frequent "boarders," Louie (Ernest Harden Jr.), has flatlined.

Ahead of The Pitt's return, Collider had the opportunity to speak with the show's creators and cast alike about some of Season 2's most pivotal moments over the first six episodes, including Gemmill and Wells. Over the course of the interview, which you can watch above or read below, the show's EPs discuss why they wanted to set Season 2 10 months later, the difficulty of working with real babies for the season's smallest patient storyline, why they wanted this week's episode to spotlight the nurses, what that Dr. Collins (Tracy Ifeachor) mention represents for the future of the show, and more.

COLLIDER: I was curious about the timing of Season 2 relative to Season 1. At some points, it's noted that it's been about a 10-month jump forward. Did that feel like enough time to really come back to the ER after some big character changes have been made? Obviously, we see Langdon coming back from rehab, and Dana is back, which I know fans will be excited about, but was the 10-month thing, “How can we move this story forward in a way where it’s not too severe of a jump, but also enough time for these characters to have been through some stuff?”

R. SCOTT GEMMILL: It was really Langdon's rehab that drove the 10 months. We wanted to have Langdon come back, and we knew that he would have had to have gone through about 10 months of rehab in order to do so. So that was really why we picked 10 months. It could have been six, it could have been four, but we picked 10 just so that we could have Langdon back and explore what it's like for him to return.

As we've been seeing at the beginning of this season, and it sort of plays throughout these initial six episodes, there's definitely still a lot of unresolved tension between Langdon and Robby. Robby seems like he does not want to engage Langdon at all. I think at one point [he] even says that he had been hoping that the timing of his sabbatical would overlap so that they wouldn't have to cross paths. What can you say about how we see that tension simmering, especially while they're forced to deal with each other in the ER over Langdon's necrotizing fasciitis patient?

JOHN WELLS: You assume when you come back, when you've been to rehab, that you'll be greeted with open arms because you've done something that's very hard for you, but the reality is that the people are disappointed in you and have had a difficult time in your absence. They don't have to forgive you, and they oftentimes don't. So, Robby’s angry. [Langdon] was his protégé. He feels betrayed.

Langdon had hoped that it would be one way, but had probably been warned that it might not be, but he’s really shaken a little bit. He's also been gone a long time. These skills are not skills that are easy to replicate outside of the work environment, so he's also just frightened about, has he maintained his skill level? Because he hasn't been working as a physician.

'The Pitt' Director John Wells Explains the Difficulty of Season 2's Abandoned Baby Storyline

"... your whole day gets shifted around for when you're going to get to the babies."

One of the cases early on this season is the baby found in the ER bathroom. I know that working with younger actors, in particular, can be difficult in terms of timing and working. Working with an infant, I imagine, is even more difficult. What was that like, having to plan the shooting schedule around those scenes that we see peppered throughout these initial episodes?

WELLS: Well, as you can imagine, the infants don't take notes particularly well, no matter what you're saying. But they are, appropriately, really protected under California law. They can only be on set for 20 minutes total during the course of the day, so you really have to plan. We have multiple infants come in because you never know if one's going to be crying or one's going to be asleep or whatever, but you simply plan all of your shots in advance. We use a dummy baby just to plan them and show the actors exactly where we're going to be, camera, rehearsal.

Then you ask the mother and the social worker, child welfare worker, to bring in the infant and set them down, and you shoot, and you just don't stop. Then they literally are standing on the sideline with a stopwatch, like an old-fashioned stopwatch, and they start counting it down for you in the last minute, and then they're gone. They come and scoop them up. There's no, “Oh, can I just have another minute or so?” It's a challenge. And they can only work between 10 and 12 [AM] and 2 and 4 [PM]. They're not allowed to work any other hours, so your whole day gets shifted around for when you’re going to get to the babies.

One of the things that really stuck out to me about [these] initial six [episodes] is there's a little bit more of a spotlight on the nurses and the NPs. Having laid the groundwork for who all these characters are in Season 1, did Season 2 really provide a good opportunity to delve into these characters a bit more? What did you really want to lean into by putting more of the spotlight on this side of the ER?

GEMMILL: The truth is the nurses kind of run the ER, and a lot of times get sort of shortchanged on shows that are medical shows because the doctors are seen as the heroes and the nurses are just sort of running around, doing what they're told, and that's not really accurate. It's very much a relationship between the doctors and the nurses, and the nurses often know as much, if not more than the doctors. They're there all the time, and they run everything. So, we really wanted to lean into that. Episode 6 was really told from the nurses' point of view, just to give them the credit that they're due, and we felt really strongly about doing that this season.

Is there a possibility that in future episodes we might get more of a spotlight on other background characters, or maybe characters we haven't spent as much time with?

GEMMILL: It's possible. We're focused mostly on our main core, but every now and then, it's nice to mix it up. I think the audience appreciates it if there's an organic reason to do it. If we find something like that, then we would certainly consider exploring that.

Speaking of, a character who fans would have rioted if she hadn't come back is Nurse Dana, who's played so fabulously by Katherine LaNasa. Something that really stuck out to me about her return this season is that she feels a little punchier. She feels like the edges are a little bit sharper than what we saw last season. Is that something where her experience, especially with the assault, has really honed her a little bit more?

WELLS: Yeah, definitely. She was an assault victim, and that changes your perspective. She's warier. She's readier at all times to defend herself. You absolutely picked up on something very intentional.

'The Pitt' EPs Explain Why Beloved Characters Might Eventually Leave the Show

"The future is going to be interesting for us..."

I do have to ask about Dr. Collins, because there is a mention of her in these initial episodes about how she's taken a job in Portland, and she's adopted a baby. Is it safe to say that her exit at this point is that we don't really know when she'll be coming back, or are you trying to leave the door open for a possible return? Never say never; is that the thought?

GEMMILL: Definitely never say never. The idea is that it’s a teaching hospital. Characters will come and go as they progress through. That's sort of the plus and the con of a teaching hospital. So eventually, even our med students will have to move on or find work in this hospital. That’s just the process.

We thought it would be nice to hear that she was going to have a child, because that was the one thing that was missing from her life. I think that's why you see Robby smile, that she's getting what she always wanted. It's all sort of new to us, the whole process of these 15 hours, and seeing people only for one shift. The future is going to be interesting for us, as well.

Talking about the back half of a season, last season, we did have the mass casualty event. Based on what we've seen so far, there's no real hint that anything big is coming, but can you tease anything about what fans have to look forward to in terms of another big shift?

GEMMILL: We didn't want to do another mass casualty or big event like that in the sense that that sort of becomes a formula for the show. So what will happen is there will be some hiccups that cause the ER to be more stressful than usual, but we won't be doing such a big event as a mass shooting or anything like that.

WELLS: A building collapse.

GEMMILL: A building collapses.

WELLS: A 747 goes down.

GEMMILL: A sinkhole in the emergency room.