Noah Wyle felt 'liberated' leaving 'ER' doctor John Carter behind in 'The Pitt'

Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this article misstated the year in which negotiations for an “ER” reboot ended.  

Noah Wyle is back in the emergency room for Max's "The Pitt." But times have changed.

It's been over three decades since Wyle, 53, starred as his famed "ER" character Dr. John Carter, the baby-faced third-year medical student who was part of the original crew at Chicago's fictional Cook County General Hospital in NBC's 1994 premiere. At 23, he was the youngest cast member, alongside breakout stars like George Clooney, Anthony Edwards and Eriq La Salle.

Even as Wyle left the pulse-pounding medical drama in 2005 after its 11th season, Carter ? by then an attending physician ? remained fresh-faced and optimistic. In "The Pitt," Wyle's Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch teeters on the edge of a breakdown as the head doctor at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. Robby's unkempt beard has flecks of gray, he wears a worn sweatshirt over scrubs, and his hair is more Supercuts than '90s superstar.

Yet every time Robby wraps that stethoscope around his neck, it's a bit of medical-drama nostalgia in a chaotic new setting. "I didn't know that a prop could ever be endowed with as much muscle memory and history as a stethoscope for me," Wyle says ahead of Thursday's fourth episode (streaming at 9 EST/PST), which he wrote. "But it's true. It's just weird."

Michael Crichton estate sues Warner Bros Claims new show 'The Pitt' is an 'ER' ripoff

A proposed "ER" reboot, which included Wyle and executive producer John Wells, fell through in 2023. Wyle says he was already inspired by medical professionals reaching out during the COVID-19 pandemic to discuss their traumatic emergency room horrors. He says he "pivoted," suggesting a different kind of medical show to Wells and former "ER" writer R. Scott Gemmill.

"I said, 'Hey, I know you don't really want to do the show again. I don't, either. But there's another story,'" Wyle says. "We recognized what we had to lose, a legacy we'd built up over 15 long years. What we had to gain was, at our ages, seeing if we could dig deep and reinvent the genre one more time."

"The Pitt" follows Robby, inundated by patients, in real-time like Fox's "24." Each episode covers one hour of a 15-hour ER shift so intense that he gets pulled away from an unfinished men's room visit for emergencies. Robby runs an airtight ship but increasingly has trouble compartmentalizing the grief from his fateful medical decisions that led to the death of his mentor during the COVID-19 crisis.

Is Dr. Robby in 'The Pitt' related to 'ER' Dr. John Carter?

Wyle says the new show avoids links to his former role. "It was almost counterproductive to what we were trying to do," he says. "The exercise became, how can we make it even more different? I felt liberated in some ways."

Yet the estate of "ER" creator Michael Crichton filed a breach of contract  lawsuit against Warner Bros. Television in August, claiming that "The Pitt" is "precisely the same series" as "ER."

There are no Easter eggs or "ER" cameos in the series. Wyle ― whose in-between roles included alien drama "Falling Skies" and a series of "Librarian" movies ― says there's no connection between the medical dramas beyond "John (Wells), Scott (Gemmill), me and a hospital."

The two medical shows also put "a spotlight on this community that picks up our broken pieces every day and gets very little credit," Wyle says.

At a November media event, HBO and Max chief Casey Bloys said "the idea that a show can’t be set in an ER seems kind of unrealistic on its face.”

Wyle says the differences between the two shows were made distinct for story reasons. "Once we weren't going to remake 'ER,' nobody wanted to remake 'ER.' It was that simple," he says. "Not for litigious reasons but for creative reasons. If we can't do it, then let's not, and let's see what that leads us to."

Show producers have even held back from casting one actor who played a former "ER" paramedic from future episodes to avoid the perception of a connection. "We all like this actor very much, and it would have been great to work again," says Wyle. "But why poke the bear? It's unfortunate. And if this (lawsuit) gets cleared, and we are allowed to, then I'm sure we'd explore it."

What happens in the episode of 'The Pitt' Noah Wyle wrote?

Wyle tapped into sentiments from a bestselling author with an Episode 4 storyline involving two adult children struggling during the final moments of their father's life. In the scene, Robby passes on the four phrases his beloved mentor taught him for end-of-life discussions: "I love you," "Thank you," "I forgive you" and "Please forgive me." The inspiration came from palliative care physician and author Ira Byock, who featured the Hawaiian reconciliation practice in his 2014 book, "The Four Things That Matter Most."

"These four simple phrases have great profundity," he says. "It was lovely to weave them into the show fabric."

When depicting the patient's emotional final moment with his grieving children, Wyle found guidance from his own mother, Marjorie Speer, a former registered orthopedic nurse.

"A very similar event had played out with my mother and her brother when saying goodbye to my grandfather," says Wyle. "After she shared this with me, I just said 'Thank you,' went right back to my typewriter and wrote the scene. It's an homage to my mother, my uncle and my grandfather."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Noah Wyle on 'The Pitt' TV series, and comparisons to 'ER'