Before there was Grey’s Anatomy, The Resident and New Amsterdam, there was ER. The fast-paced, realistic and gripping medical drama drew viewers in with its intense storylines and star-studded cast, and the day-to-day at Chicago’s County General Hospital was hardly ever dull. Starring famous faces like George Clooney, Anthony Edwards, Julianna Margulies and Noah Wyle, these actors and actresses made the fictional emergency room what it was—and some of the show’s cast have dived right back into the chaos of working in a hospital yet again.
At the start of 2025, viewers got to know Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch in The Pitt, a new medical drama with a single season taking place over the course of a 15-hour shift at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. While the show has been applauded for its medical accuracy and stunning cast performances, it also manages to touch on real issues faced by frontline workers throughout their day-to-day, such as lack of funding in medical institutions and PTSD. While it’s ironic that this is Noah Wyle’s second medical drama, he isn’t the only cast member in The Pitt who appeared in ER. As a matter of fact, Katherine LaNasa, Shawn Hatosy, Michael Hyatt and Tracy Vilar have acted in both series, leaving many to question: Is The Pitt a spin-off of ER? Not quite. Here, we break down the differences, as well as dive into the complicated legal battle involving the two series.
Laura Ceron, Abraham Benrubi, Jillian Bach, Noah Wyle, ER, 2004
NBC/Courtesy of Everett Collection
Is ‘The Pitt’ a spinoff of ‘ER’?
Yes, both The Pitt and ER are medical dramas. Yes, they both star Noah Wyle. Yes, they both take place in the emergency room. But no, the shows are not related. For starters, despite both shows sharing a few cast members from time to time, they play entirely different characters in each series. Secondly, both take place at different hospitals in different states. While many viewers at home pondered about the coincidental similarities between the show, so did the people behind ER—and in their eyes, it wasn’t so coincidental.
‘The Pitt’ and ‘ER’ lawsuit explained
Michael Crichton was not only the author of Jurassic Park, but he also created ER. Crichton passed away in 2008, but last year, his name was in the news when a story broke involving his wife, Sherri Crichton. In August of last year, Sherri filed a lawsuit that essentially claimed that The Pitt was a knockoff of ER. As the story goes, Crichton’s estate was working with Warner Bros. on a legitimate ER reboot, but when their negotiations were unsuccessful, the reboot did not proceed. Suing Noah Wyle, The Pitt’s executive producers and creators, as well as Warner Bros. Television, Sherri claimed that The Pitt came shortly after the ER reboot got scrapped and was basically another version of what they came up with. As for Wyle’s take on it all, it’s an unfortunate situation.
Gerran Howell, Amielynn Abellera, Noah Wyle, Sepideh Moafi, Supriya Ganesh, The Pitt, 2025
Warrick Page/HBO Max
“The only thing that I can legally speak to,” the actor told Variety earlier in the year, “is how I feel emotionally, which is just profoundly sad and disappointed. This taints the legacy, and it shouldn’t have. At one point, this could have been a partnership. And when it wasn’t a partnership, it didn’t need to turn acrimonious. But on the 30th anniversary of ER, I’ve never felt less celebratory of that achievement than I do this year.”
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