Who is Dr. Al-Hashimi on ‘The Pitt’ Season 2? Everything You Need to Know About Sepideh Moafi’s New Character

The Pitt Season 2 takes place on Dr. Robby’s (Noah Wyle) last day at work before he takes a three-month-long break to ride away from his problems on his motorcycle. Because the HBO Max show is rooted in the real world, there’s no way that Dr. Robby can take this much time off without someone filling in for him. That someone is Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi), a new character who actually already has connections to two of The Pitt‘s most beloved characters.

Dr. Al-Hashimi – or “Dr. Al,” as she likes to be called — is coming to the Pitt from the local VA Hospital, where she previously worked with Dr. Samira Mohan (Supriya Ganesh) and Dr. Mel King (Taylor Dearden). Fans of The Pitt already know that Mohan and King are optimistic, go-getters who excel at empathizing with their patients. Dr. Al-Hashimi not only brings that sort of energy to The Pitt, but a dogged determination to make substantive changes to the ED with the help of technology. According to actress Sepideh Moafi, her character represents the “modernization of medicine.”

“She embraces technology in order to improve the system, not to take over the system,” Moafi said. “This is not like a medical ‘Terminator’ situation. She wants to try to use technology in order to relieve the burden for these health care workers.”

The Pitt Season 2 features a subplot where we watch the younger doctors, particularly Dr. Trinity Santos (Isa Briones), struggling to juggle their rounds with keeping up with their charts. Moafi pointed out that this is a real world issue, wherein doctors are often stuck doing paperwork during time that could be better spent with patients. For Dr. Al, one solution is generative AI, which gets a mixed response from the Pitt crew.

“We have limitations as human beings and if we’re able to sort of monitor and supervise AI technology in order to create systems that can help offload and diagnose, refine diagnoses that we may our human brain might miss because of fatigue, because of burnout,” Moafi said. “So I think she just she really holds on tight to this idea that, yes, we’re fighting an uphill battle, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t keep pushing. You don’t keep finding creative ways and strategizing towards the light.”

Dr. Al-Hashimi’s approach puts her at odds with Robby, who prefers old school methods and making the best of what the ED already has. The two spend The Pitt Season 2 attempting to figure each other out, sometimes physically colliding in humorous ways or talking over each other in the ER.

“We have wildly different sort of takes and sort of ways into medicine and teaching and running an ER, and yet we share a similar goal,” Moafi said. “So I think throughout the season, you’ll see two animals who are trying to figure each other out, figure themselves out through each other and figure each other out as themselves. It’s quite a journey.”

Two characters who already have Dr. Al-Hashimi figured out? Mel and Mohan. Taylor Dearden and Supriya Ganesh told DECIDER how Dr. Al’s arrival impacted their characters in a positive way.

“Sepi herself brings a very calm and, like, competent energy, both herself and playing Dr. Al-Hashimi,” Taylor Dearden said. “There’s a certain comfort in knowing her style that I think our characters had.”

“Yeah, I think for me, Robby comes down so hard on Samira and I think she really loved working with Dr. Al-Hashimi in the past because she is more aligned with her,” Supriya Ganesh said. “So I think, you know, feeling like there is a mentor there that’s more aligned with her, I think is really special for her. And maybe she’s a little excited that Al-Hashimi might take over.”

Dr. Jack Abbot (Shawn Hatosy) is another character stoked about Dr. Al-Hashimi’s arrival. The night shift Attending makes a dramatic entrance in Episode 7 and quickly bonds with Dr. Al over their shared pasts in Afghanistan, agreeing to trade “war stories” over a beer.

“She’s a flirt,” Hatosy teased. “I mean, like within minutes of meeting Abbot, they’re already like —”

“He asked me out!” Moafi said, laughing.

“They’re going to go have a beer,” Hatosy said.

“We will have a beer,” Moafi said.

New episodes of The Pitt Season 2 premiere on HBO Max on Thursdays at 9 PM ET.