Ball says he can’t wait to see what happens with Langdon in Season 2, before reflecting on his character’s season-long drama with Santos and how some viewers were “rooting” for the wrong doctor.
Warning: This post contains spoilers about the season finale of The Pitt.
That’s a wrap on Season 1 of The Pitt — with Dr. Langdon’s future at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital hanging in the balance.
The Max medical drama, which has already been renewed for a second season, follows a group of doctors, nurses, interns and patients — in real time — during one shift in the emergency room. Throughout the first 15 episodes, Patrick Ball’s senior resident, Dr. Langdon, starts off as a charming character, before butting heads with intern Dr. Santos (Isa Briones), who eventually exposes him for stealing drugs from patients.
While Noah Wyle’s Dr. Robby kicks him out of the ER, Landgon returns to help after a shooting floods the hospital with patients. In the finale, as things finally begin to slow down after a chaotic couple of hours, Langdon thanks Robby for allowing him to return — only to be met with anger and disappointment from Wyle’s character.
Instagram/Max
It’s a powerful confrontation between the pair, as Robby insists Langdon signs up for a 30-day in-patient treatment program, and submit to urine tests and NA meetings for 5 years. “You let me down, you let everybody down, especially yourself. This job will f–k you up if you let it. You let it,” he tells him, before Langdon throws Robby’s breakdown back in his face. Their heated conversation ends with Robby yelling, “F–k you!” while storming off — and Langdon’s fate unknown.
“It was incredible,” Ball told TooFab of filming the emotional confrontation. “As soon as we finished that scene — that scene was my last thing for the season, it was the last thing we shot, it was a night time exterior and everybody was on location — as soon as we wrapped it, Noah just turns to me and like gives me this big hug.”
Photos Ball shared to Instagram show the pair hugging it out in the hospital parking lot, after they wrapped filming (above left).
“And like everybody circles up and [producer] John Wells comes in and gives me a hug and and it was, yeah, it was pretty life affirming,” added Ball. “It was pretty amazing.”
Max
The Pitt’s Patrick Ball on Mel-Langdon Shippers, Show’s Success and … Mario Kart?! (Exclusive)
View Story
As for whether Langdon will take Robby up on his “second chance” offer, Ball said he doesn’t know what the writers have in store for Season 2.
“I don’t and I think that’s for the best. I think it’s for the best because I’m terrible at keeping a secret,” he told TooFab. “I have no idea what happens, but [creator R. Scott Gemmill] is really good … at what he does. I can’t wait to see what he has in mind.”
He also touched on Langdon’s interactions with Santos after his surprise return to the hospital, as his character didn’t do much to smooth things over with her after he realized she was the one who reported him.
“It’s going to be a really interesting thing to navigate because I think there’s– obviously there’s a a number of ways in which Langdon was in the wrong and I think, to what degree can he take ownership over that and learn from that will be interesting to see,” he told TooFab.
“But I also think his job and career and life as he knows it has been completely derailed by her. That would require a big slice of humble pie,” he said of Langdon possibly attempting to take accountability and stop blaming Santos. “It’ll be a really interesting thing to unpack going forward.”
Max
The Pitt’s Gerran Howell Reveals Grossest Whitaker Moment from Season 1 (Exclusive)
View Story
Ball then reflected on how fan reaction to Santos changed throughout the season, as the character initially rubbed some viewers the wrong way with her confidence, attitude and for turning in someone they quickly grew fond of.
“Scott Gemmill, the show-runner, it was just a masterstroke in how he built the season. Like Langdon is the guy that everybody likes. He’s fun, he’s a good time. And we want to root for him because he makes things fun,” said Ball.
“And then Santos comes in and is kind of the naysayer and is kind of brash — weirdly, kind of in a similar way that Langdon is brash — but for some reason, it’s off putting over here, whereas it’s charming over here,” he continued.
“I think the audience was was rooting for Langdon to be right. Then whenever it turned out that that Santos was telling the truth, I think there’s rightfully a bit of self interrogation that everyone has to do as as to why. Why couldn’t we believe this?” he asked. “My dream is that if you go back and you rewatch the season, you’ll see, like, the signs are there. I think the discourse around all of it is really interesting. Some of it’s more intelligent than others.”
He concluded, “But I think the fact that there is such a rich conversation going on around this dynamic is amazing as a real testament to the way Scott wrote it.”
Season 1 of The Pitt is streaming now in full on Max.
Max
The Pitt Star on Powerful Dr. Robby Pep Talk: ‘Horrible’ Seeing Noah Wyle ‘In That State’ (Exclusive)
View Story
