‘The Pitt’ Season 2 Trailer: 5 Things You May Have Missed From Patrick Ball’s New Sobriety Bracelet to Sepideh Moafi’s New Doc

The Prodigal Son Has Returned — But Is It Robby or Langdon?

The new Pitt Season 2 teaser opens with Robby returning to PTMH and Night Nurse Lena (Lesley Boone) quips, “The prodigal son returns.” The editing, including Nurse Dana’s sympathetic glance at Robby suggests Lena is talking about our favorite tortured chief resident. And, of course, that could be so. However, trailers and teasers can often be edited to, you know, tease the audience. 

Later in the same teaser, we see a sheepish Langdon return to the ER. The Pitt EPs have already revealed during their awards campaigning that Season 2 will take place on Robby’s last day before he leaves for a three month long sabbatical. (The tidbit that he plans to bike around the country seems to explain his heavy outerwear in July.) However, because of a scheduling snafu, Robby’s last day coincides with Langdon’s first day back from rehab. 

Could it be that Langdon is the prodigal son that Lena is welcoming? Is The Pitt merely editing it to anchor Robby at the beginning of the teaser?

Either way, the description is apt for both struggling doctors. Moreover, their rocky relationship is sure to cause problems in the ER next season. When DECIDER spoke to Noah Wyle last spring, he likened Robby and Langdon’s fight in the Season 1 finale to a “break-up scene.”

“That it was a sad scene,” Wyle said. “Like any breakup, it’s really hard to be in the same room as someone that you felt intimate with and felt betrayed by.”

“Even if you have to work next to them, even if they still are good at what they do, it’s really tricky to bridge both the professional and the personal at the same time after you’ve gotten the rug pulled out from underneath you.”

New Doctor, New Nurse, New Interns…

The Pitt Season 2 takes place about nine months after Season 1 and there have been some staffing changes at PTMH. Dr. Collins has left her tenure at the hospital — we hope to work somewhere where she won’t have to see her toxic ex every day — and now the show welcomes Sepideh Moafi as Dr. Al-Hashimi. We can see her working alongside Robby in the teaser.

We also meet a new nurse named Emma in the teaser, played by Laëtitia Hollard. In the official June casting release, the new recurring character was described as “a recent nursing school graduate, who some may consider naive.” In the trailer, she looks overwhelmed by a recent procedure, wondering aloud if something like that happens every day. Santos, naturally, gives Emma her typical bedside manner. “Only if we’re lucky!”

During an intense triage scene, we can also get a glimpse of Lucas Iverson’s new fourth year med student James working side-by-side with Whitaker. 

…New Bangs?

While most of the cast looks pretty much the same, give or take a few more or less inches of hair growth, one character seems to have gotten the subtle glow up her actress wanted. When DECIDER interviewed Fiona Dourif last spring about playing Dr. Cassie McKay, we discussed the character’s iconic bangs. Dourif admitted that she wanted to mix it up.

“I actually just cut my hair yesterday. I was like, ‘I have to have bangs in June, but what if I like switch up the bangs?’” she said in April. “Because I got so sick of it. So now they’re really short. But maybe they’re too short.”

Later, though, she joked maybe McKay would have shorter bangs, too, in Season 2. “I don’t know. I’m testing it.”

While McKay still has her bangs, they are trimmed slightly shorter and lighter. Not to mention the fact that her hair is browner than before. It’s a realistic, but subtle, change that we’re guessing Dourif is happy about.

Night Shift Shake Up?

Fans of The Pitt will know that Season 1 opened with Dr. Robby taking over the ER from the Night Shift attending, Dr. Jack Abbot. When the sensitive former military medic returned during the show’s pulse-pounding mass casualty event, he soon became a fan favorite. However, it seems that Season 2 will open with a different senior resident closing out the Night Shift.

In the very first production pic from The Pitt Season 2, we saw Dr. Robby walking side-by-side with Ken Kirby’s scene-stealing Dr. Shen. The chill doctor caught fans’ attention by essentially just running on Dunkies throughout the horrifying Pitt Fest fallout. 

The new Season 2 teaser seems to confirm that Dr. Shen will be handing over the reins to Dr. Robby when he arrives for his shift. Not only can we see Dr. Shen in the teaser but there is no sign of Dr. Abbot.

However, fear not, Abbot-heads! Hatosy is not only confirmed to reprise his Emmy-nominated role in Season 2, but he’ll direct an episode next season. Our guess is Dr. Abbot will make his heroic entrance at the literal 11th hour, right when we expect the day to once again go haywire. 

Color Theory Craziness

Maybe it’s because we’ve been spent the last month falling down crazy rabbit holes while theorizing about The Summer I Turned Pretty, but we couldn’t help but notice some potential color theory at play when it came to the cast’s Season 2 wardrobes. 

One of the biggest fan ‘ships to emerge in Season 1 paired the married (and troubled) Dr. Langdon with the super lovable Dr. Mel King. Going by the earliest Easter eggs in the trailers and first look pictures, however, the production might be trying to dampen this corner of the fandom’s expectations. 

Not only is Dr. Langdon’s wedding ring very visible in his first official Season 2 image — along with what appears to be a sobriety bracelet in place of Season 1’s friendship bracelets — but color theory points to him being this season’s odd man out. Dr. King is seen wearing a green shirt under her scrubs, which is exactly the color scheme that defines Robby’s Season 2 wardrobe. This isn’t to suggest that we should ship them, but that they are perhaps more simpatico this season. Other characters who share color schemes include Dr. Mohan and Javadi’s purple scale clothes. It’s just a sign that people are on the same page*. 

Meanwhile, Langdon is dressed head-to-toe in the same dark blues that Robby favored in Season 1, ahead of his eventual breakdown. Again, we’re not saying this foreshadows a crash out for Langdon, but it probably symbolizes that much like Robby was emotionally isolated and adrift in Season 1, Langdon will take on that outsider role in Season 2. After all, he’s returning, raw, from rehab. He’s starting in a similarly vulnerable position that Robby did in Season 1, returning to the scene of his greatest personal tragedy. Robby lost his mentor to COVID and Langdon lost Robby’s trust. 

It’s also worth noting that in the official press release, Patrick Ball is now listed number two on the cast list after Noah Wyle. Further hinting that Langdon’s return might be a key emotional arc for the season. 

*Interestingly, the other main character in dark blue? Langdon’s Season 1 foil Trinity Santos. 

Bonus Easter Egg: This Cast Remains Adorbz

Hardcore Pitt fanatics might have first seen this Season 2 footage not from official HBO Max accounts, but that of its exuberant cast. Fiona Dourif shared the same teaser on her social media last night, hours before HBO’s publicity team publicly posted it.