Considering its setup and lead actor, plenty of people have been wondering if Max's new medical drama the course of 15 episodes, The Pitt will follow the story of the doctors and medical workers in PTMC's ER, sarcastically nicknamed The Pitt, as they deal with cases from the mundane to the life-altering.

Prior to its release, The Pitt's cast of characters, particularly lead Noah Wyle, that they're able to anchor the medical drama in humanity. It's reminiscent of another huge show that changed the landscape for medical dramas, ER, leading some to wonder if The Pitt has any ties to that series.

Max's The Pitt Is Not An ER Spinoff (But Was Supposed To Be A Revival)

It Was Reworked To Be An Entirely Different Show

It's fair to wonder, but The Pitt is not, in fact, an ER reboot or spinoff. It certainly seems like it could be, especially considering the hospital setting and the fact that lead actor Noah Wyle also anchored ER for years. Interestingly, The Pitt was the result of what was initially conceived as an ER revival. Wanting to do something new, Wyle got in touch with former ER showrunner and executive producer, John Wells, and he, in turn, brought in former ER writer R. Scott Gemmill. Not wanting to step on ER's legacy, Wyle's idea was that it would be a much smaller, contained character piece focusing on either his ER character, John Carter, or another character in the modern day.

Ultimately, though, the idea fell through. Though they came up with a concept, it never really got off the ground and negotiations fell apart. Instead, the trio reworked their idea into a completely new medical drama that had nothing to with ER, and that idea eventually became The Pitt. Outside of the former ER veterans and the fact it's a medical drama set in a hospital, The Pitt has no ties to ER, does not exist in that world, and isn't a spinoff or continuation of the previous show in any way. It's entirely its own thing.

The Pitt Has Several Big Differences From ER

The Format Sets It Apart From All Other Medical Dramas

Aside from seeing Noah Wyle in the role of a doctor who is not John Carter, The Pitt made a few significant changes to separate it even further from ER. For starters, its format is closer to 24 than ER: each episode of the first season covers one hour in Dr. Robby's 15-hour shift at the hospital. The almost real-time format makes it that much more intense as the viewer is dropped right into the action. The lack of commercial breaks and time jumps means that it never stops; Dr. Robby and his staff never get a break, and neither does the audience.

Likewise, with it being on a streaming service, The Pitt is a little more gnarly in of showing gruesome injuries than ER ever was, and there's more cursing allowed, too. While ER was an intense medical drama for its time, The Pitt tops that intensity in of realism, not afraid to go all-in on the gorier truths of working in a trauma center hospital. Though it may not be a sequel or spinoff of the earlier show, in ways, The Pitt is ER's grittier, tenser spiritual successor, making it a great watch for those who love medical dramas.