Noah Wyle recounts the failed attempt to return Urgences after the pandemic

The actor tried to revive the old cult medical drama. But negotiations with the estate of creator Michael Crichton ended in failure.

Noah Wyle And John Wellsformer showrunner ofEMERGENCIESwill soon be starring in a new medical series called The Pitt (a slang word for… emergencies). The streaming service Max has already ordered this drama which will clearly have great airs ofEMERGENCIESbut will not EMERGENCIES. Yet, Noah Wyle reveals that he actually came close to taking up Dr. Carter’s coat again in recent years: a revival project was launched, but never came to fruition!

“When I wasn’t working, during the pandemic, I didn’t feel good about myself. I felt like I was worthless. It really bothered me a lot not to contribute meaningfully to the fight against Covid, that’s where the idea for this series came from, The Pitt, which I do now. The idea is to highlight the people who are on the front lines, who have tirelessly taken care of us for five years. They are tired, exhausted and overwhelmed – and in many cases, they are mistreated. They’re heroes and I wanted to do something that reflected that again.”

Except that before arriving at The Pitt, Noah Wyle and several former screenwriters‘EMERGENCIESwhose executive producer John Wellsthought about staging a return of Cook County Hospital in Chicago!

“That’s what we originally wanted to do in 2020. I emailed John Wells and said I was getting lots of mail from people thanking us for the show. That it had inspired them. I told him that with the exception of my children, EMERGENCIES was probably the best thing I ever did in my life. I knew John didn’t want to reboot the series with a new cast. Neither do I. I thought he was right not to try to make it a franchise, because that would have diluted what we had done. But on the other hand, I was ready to redo a series centered on a character from Emergencies, a sort of update to tell what is happening today in the health system.”

The actor explains that Wells thought about the idea and ended up calling on some former writers fromEMERGENCIESincluding Scott Gemmill and David Zabel.”We came up with a concept. But it never really got off the grid.“, Wyle confides, pointing his finger at “problems“with the estate of creator Michael Crichton.”Negotiations ended in failure.”

That’s when Wyle, Wells and Gemmill decided to create a new medical series, set in the world of medicine. The Pitt received an order for 15 episodes from Max. The series aims to show a realistic view of the challenges facing healthcare workers in today’s America, set in a modern hospital in Pittsburgh.

Production will begin in July and is expected to continue until February 2025. Noah Wyle will be the star. He is also the author of the first two episodes.