The Pitt Season 2 Teases Langdon & Robby’s New Journey

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for The Pitt season 2, episode 1!The Pitt star Noah Wyle and director John Wells have teased where season 2 will take Langdon and Robby’s bond as their fifteen-hour shift unfolds. The Pitt season 2 takes place several months after season 1, when Robby forced Langdon into a program for his drug addiction. There’s been friction between them ever since, as the pair have yet to reconcile.

Speaking with Variety, Wyle unpacked the tension between Robby and Langdon in The Pitt season 2’s premiere. He teased how it wouldn’t be easy for the duo to reconcile within the span of 15 hours, but that the show could provide a start to the pair beginning to trust one another again, as fickle as it is right now:

For both of their health, sense of closure and peace of mind, they need to get real with each other. Fifteen hours is a very short period of time in which to accomplish something as large as that. Fifteen hours is not really that much time for people to radically change an opinion. It’s just enough to plant a seed and start to have it germinate — positive, negative, fearful, tearful, tragic. These are all things that we start in one place, and we get to another, but they’re kind of micro journeys.

Wells, who directed the premiere episode, explained how Langdon is expecting Robby to address how much he’s struggled, something he believes will have made the program worthwhile. But there’s also the consideration of how difficult it’s been without him because of his actions, and the high expectations Robby had for him before finding out what he was doing:

Langdon feels he’s done something, and he’s worked hard at it, and it was difficult. He’s not really expecting a parade, but at the same time, he’s expecting to be acknowledged for how difficult that was and how hard it was on his family — not working and damaging, possibly to his career. Others are just [thinking], we had to work twice as hard to fill in for you that entire time. In Robby’s case, he was his protege. He loved him and respected him, and felt very betrayed. So I think showing the realities of how difficult recovery is, and at the same time, how you shouldn’t have expectations that everyone’s going to accept you having done that recovery, is very important.

Langdon was kicked out of the hospital during season 1, episode 10, when Robby learned he was stealing Louie’s Librium. At the end of The Pitt season 1, after Langdon returned to help victims of the Pittfest shooting, the protagonist forced him into a program to clean up his act. Things ended bitterly between the once-close doctors.

Noah Wyle as Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch in The Pitt season 1. — Noah Wyle as Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch in The Pitt season 1.

However, The Pitt season 2 premiere saw Langdon attempt to talk to Robby, wanting to properly clear the air between them before the latter goes on his sabbatical. For now, they’ve yet to properly reconcile, with the attending physician dealing with plenty of other things to sort out before he takes his leave. But it seems inevitable they’ll talk.

By the end of the latest episode, Robby is working with multiple doctors across the hospital on various patients, while Langdon is, fittingly, treating Louie for a toothache and other concerning symptoms. While they’ve gone their separate ways in the trauma center, they’ll no doubt be brought back together in the long-run, no matter how busy it gets.

But Langdon’s apology to Robby is just a start. His absence has forced others to work harder for many months, something The Pitt has already acknowledged. This means there are plenty of other characters Langdon needs to make amends with. As Wyle stated, this shift can only be the start for him and how he’ll approach his duties moving forward.

New episodes of The Pitt season 2 arrive Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max.