'The Pitt' threw these actors 'into the deep end.' How they learned to go with the flow

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Set us as preferred Instead of giving its doctors and nurses several seasons to evolve, the second season of “The Pitt” jumped 10 months into the future.This allowed the actors the unusual opportunity to explore new facets of their characters.

For Shawn Hatosy, Gerran Howell and Patrick Ball, each nominated for an Emmy for supporting actor in a drama series, that meant very different performances.At the end of Season 1, Ball’s Dr.Frank Langdon was forced to depart the hospital after Dr.

Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Noah Wyle) discovered his drug addiction.Season 2, set on the Fourth of July, marks his first day back after rehab.“It was a great dramatic problem for me,” Ball says, speaking with Howell and Hatosy over Zoom from Los Angeles.

“He’s been out of the Pitt and going through this profound spiritual transition and hasn’t seen anyone for 10 months.He has to come back and reestablish these relationships.

He realizes over the course of the season that, actually, everybody here has changed.”Howell’s Dr.Dennis Whitaker has become more confident.

In fact, he seems to be having a better day than his co-workers, particularly Robby, whose mental health is on the brink of collapse.“Whitaker isn’t witnessing any of what’s going on with Robby,” Howell says.“He’s found his flow in this very turbulent environment.

But it’s not necessarily a healthy way of dealing with it.People are leaning on him, but you never see him ask other characters for help.”Ball adds, “Whitaker is now occupying this space that [Langdon] once occupied as the golden boy.

But being the golden boy isn’t actually a healthy seat to be in.”Howell notes that the characters don’t necessarily change over the course of a season.“A lot of it happens in between seasons,” he says.

“It’s a really gradual thing that the audience gets to understand as we go along.They have to figure out what’s c...