‘The Pitt’ Boss Reveals Season 3 Details: How’s Robby Doing, Where’s Mohan & More

There’s hope at the end of the absolutely fantastic Season 2 finale of The Pitt. Robby (Noah Wyle) has a heart-to-heart then opens up to a somewhat surprising person, he and Langdon (Patrick Ball) do finally talk, and Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi) faces the truth about her future with her seizure disorder. TV Insider spoke with executive producer R. Scott Gemmill for a look ahead at Season 3. Warning: Spoilers for The Pitt Season 2 finale below!

Abbot’s (Shawn Hatosy) once again the one to talk to Robby, just like in the first season finale; their conversation takes place in a trauma room, not the roof this time. He doesn’t sugarcoat it either. “You want to know why I never killed myself?” Abbot asks. Despite what he’d seen and experienced, “yes, life can suck, it can be unbearable and brutal and ugly and heartbreaking, but it’s also beautiful,” he says. But Robby’s struggling, “feeling like I’m drowning every day,” he admits. Abbot tells him to get help and find a way to “dance through the darkness.” It seems like Robby takes his words to heart as he ends the season with baby Jane Doe, assuring her she’s safe and not alone, pretty much saying what he needs to hear. He talks about getting abandoned at the age of 8, but assured her she’ll get through it like he did.

Robby also does now want to talk to Langdon, and he does, but the other doc calls him out on his unrealistic standards that no one can live up to and the fact that he needs help. Robby also talks to Mohan (Supriya Ganesh, who will not be in Season 3) about life not turning out like you expect. Her future remains up in the air.

That’s true for Al-Hashimi as well. Robby doesn’t think she should be working with her seizure disorder, even with the plan she comes up with for double coverage. The last time we see her, she’s stopped driving and sits in her car, crying.

Below, executive producer R. Scott Gemmill looks ahead to Season 3 after that shocking finale. (Plus, watch our Post-Op: The Pitt Aftershow for the finale with Supriya Ganesh, Sepideh Moafi, Taylor Dearden, Shawn Hatosy, and Jeff Kober here.)

What is it about Abbot that he’s the character that won’t let Robby hide and sees through him? Dana (Katherine LaNasa) wants him to talk to him. Talk about having a character like that and that relationship on the show.

R. Scott Gemmill: Abbot’s somebody who’s known Robby for a long time. Abbot’s been through a lot himself. He’s a vet. He lost his wife, lost his leg. I think he’s sort of a no BS guy too. And he sees Robby for … he calls things the way he sees them, and he doesn’t feel like he has to use delicate gloves with Robby. He’s pretty straightforward because he knows Robby needs to hear the truth and he’s a grown man. He can take it.

And so that plays into what we see in that scene because we got the great scene in last season’s finale between the two of them on the rooftop. And then we get that great scene this season in the finale in the trauma room. And it all culminates in Robby getting that hug that I’d wanted someone to give him all shift, I have to say.

Yeah. Yeah. Everyone needs a hug.

But then there is Robby with the baby at the end. And first of all, he’s not adopting baby Jane Doe, right? Because he is in no right head space to adopt. But is that scene more just about the hope that there is for Robby?

It’s the hope. I think Robby is getting as much comfort out of the baby as baby is getting out of him. I think the baby is someone he actually says things too that he wouldn’t say to anyone else because he knows they don’t go anywhere. I think it’s a cathartic moment for him and gives him a little pause. And in some ways he finds a little refuge of the day in that child at the very end.

Yeah, because he doesn’t open up to anyone. Even when he mentioned his mom to Dana, he’s like, why would I bring this up?

The guy has a lot of baggage and he needs to unpack it.

He needs to find the right therapist.

He does … and go.

Which by the way, I loved Caleb (Christopher Thornton) this season. I think that was such a great addition to have and also just having someone who calls him Michael, too, the way that he does.

Yes. And he sees through all of it. That’s why he calls him Michael.

Robby and Langdon finally talked…

Robby’s been avoiding him all day, was hoping not to even see him. And that in and of itself is problematic. That’s showing Robby isn’t in a good place himself, otherwise he could face Langdon and could accept his apology. So here are two people that are very flawed trying to find some sort of common ground, and Robby’s just not in the mood. And by the time they do have that confrontation, Langdon is no longer beholden to Robby, he’s put in the work, he’s doing everything he should do, and Robby isn’t. And I think Langdon’s starting to see the hypocrisy in Robby’s behavior.

You showcase more of the night shift this season than you did in season one. And I love seeing the contrast to the day shift and how Abbot runs things. Is there a possibility of a night shift spinoff and will season three do the same when it comes to how much we see of them?

I love the night shift group as well. Whether there’ll ever be a spinoff is, who knows? Anything’s possible. But yeah, we like seeing them and it adds a sense of authenticity to the show and introduces some other characters. And yeah, we like to keep them alive.

Why not have a mass casualty like you did in Season 1 in Season 2?

Just because it would seem like it was trope-y. If every season there was a mass casualty, it would seem a little redundant, I think.

With everyone was going through it this season, this allowed you to really focus on each one and give them that time, right?

Exactly. Yep. And hopefully next season, it’s all about healing and seeing everyone get through another shift.

Javadi (Shabana Azeez) now knows she wants to go into mental health, which I love that path for her. Did you know from the start that that’s the path you were going to be taking her on or did that just develop?

We knew at the beginning of Season 2 that that might be where she goes, and we kicked it around for a long time and then just decided to commit to it because it is such a huge part of medicine. It’s a huge part of emergency medicine and it’s a growing issue. And so it seemed like a great arena to explore further.

Al-Hashimi’s future seems a bit up in the air, especially if Robby gets his way. Is she realizing that he’s right or worried he is when we last see her in the car?

Yeah, that’s why she stopped. She knows she shouldn’t even be driving and she’s in a really bad place in her mind because there’s a chance that she may not be able to practice medicine and she’s running out of options.

Why is it that Langdon can be the person he is around King (Taylor Dearden)?

I don’t know. I think they sort of hit it off in a quirky way, Season 1, and I think that relationship is just a special one. I think she really looks up to him and I think he finds her amusing and also very … She’s taught him things. She taught him how to interact with an autistic patient. And so I think it’s mutual admiration in the case of those two.

Langdon and Santos (Isa Briones) — can they work together?

That’s the big question, right? Can they work together? And as Robby says to her, you’re going to have to learn to. And that’s going to be part of their journey in Season 3, is how do these two people, who clearly are at odds, come together when patients need them?

What had you wanted to do with them this season? And you waited until Episode 11 to get them to have that conversation.

Yeah, because I think she was — the two people Langdon probably the least wanted to talk to was Robby and Santos. He knew he was going to have to talk to both of them. You see, he even starts small by … His first confession is to a patient. It’s not even to one of his coworkers. So he sort of builds up to it over the day. And Santos wants nothing to do with him. She doesn’t want to hear his apology. And when he does do it, she doesn’t really accept it. And it’s not easy. It’s not tied up in a bow between them. And that’s just the reality. She feels really betrayed. She was treated s**tty and people looked at her as some sort of pariah when she was only trying to do what’s right for the patients. So there’s a lot of conflict between them that has to be resolved.

Supriya won’t be back for Season 3. Why and will anyone else not be returning?

The reality of the hospital is that people come and go. And we’ve known that since we started. And it’s one of the things, it’s good and it’s bad. It’s good because it keeps things fresh and it also makes it feel like a real working environment. It’s bad because we lose people, characters that we have grown to love, but that’s just part of the process. So we know that eventually a lot of people will come and go, and that’s just going to be the nature of the show.

Are there any plans that you can say about anyone else not returning at this point?

We’re still in the process of figuring out Season 3, so that’s still TBD.

You did leave Mohan’s future up in the air. Whenever you have a character who doesn’t come back, is it always going to be we hear about it like how we heard about Collins in Season 2?

I think Mohan’s just not going to be working this shift. That’s simple as that probably.

What can you say about Season 3’s shift and when it’s going to pick up?

It’s going to pick up about four months later. It’s not going to be as big a jump this year.

And what can you say about how Robby is going to be in Season 3? Is he going to be coming back and taking time off? Because you did mention about Season 3 being about healing.

Yeah, that’s what it’s going to be. He will return and we’re going to see what kind of shape he’s in and this sabbatical, if you really went on it and if it changed him or not, hopefully for the better.

It feels like you left a bit more unresolved in a way you didn’t last season’s finale with this one. Did you set out to do that from the start of the season?

I don’t know if we set off to do that per se. I think that’s just where the stories led us and we ended them wherever we thought that they were the most interesting to depart that journey. And if there was a little more unresolved this year, I think that’s just because of where those characters were in their lives.

You could have easily ended with Robby and the baby, but instead you end with that karaoke scene over the credits, which was so great. Talk about doing that.

That was just an idea I had very late in the game, and I wasn’t sure anybody else was going to go for it. So I ran it by Taylor and Isa, and it just seemed like a fun kind of Easter egg to end the season on an upbeat note and launch us into what comes next. And I thought it would be nice. These guys both had a really tough day and they need to let off a little steam and what would be better than belting on an Alanis Morissette song in some dive karaoke bar?

Because there were so many staff members to be worried about in Season 2, can you say which member of the staff you’re most worried about going into Season 3?

Well, I’m always worried about Robby. I think he needs the most work, and hopefully, that’s what his journey Season 3 will be about.

The Pitt, Season 3, TBA, HBO Max