HBO and Max head Casey Bloys has responded to the estate of Michael Crichton, and its lawsuit arguing that the upcoming Max series “The Pitt” is an unauthorized reboot of “ER,” telling reporters he doesn’t expect it to have an impact on the show’s early 2025 rollout.
“I’m sure I’m not supposed to talk about active litigation, but I will say the idea that a show can’t be set in an ER seems kind of unrealistic on its face, that no other show can be set in a hospital emergency room,” he told reporters on Tuesday at an HBO and Max press conference. “I mean, it’s kind of a staple on television. I don’t anticipate impacts on the show itself, but I’ll leave that to the Warner Bros. lawyers.”
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Last week Warner Bros. filed a motion to throw out the lawsuit filed by Crichton’s widow, Sherri, arguing that the two shows are distinct and the lawsuit is doomed to fail. “‘The Pitt’ is a completely different show from ‘ER,’” the motion stated. “Plaintiff cannot use Mr. Crichton’s ‘ER’ contract as a speech-stifling weapon to prevent Defendants from ever making a show about emergency medicine.”
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“ER” was based on an original pilot script that Crichton wrote about his own experiences as a medical student. The Crichton estate sued in August, accusing exec producer John Wells of a “personal betrayal,” claiming that he and star Noah Wyle came up with “The Pitt” after the Crichton estate blocked their plans to reboot “ER.”
“‘The Pitt’ is ‘ER,’” the lawsuit states. “It’s not like ‘ER.’ It’s not kind of ‘ER.’ It’s not sort of ‘ER.’ It is ‘ER’ with the exact same executive producer, writer, star, production companies, studio and network as the planned ‘ER’ reboot.”
At the time, Warner Bros. swiftly responded: “The lawsuit filed by the Crichton Estate is baseless, as ‘The Pitt’ is a new and original show,” the studio said in a statement. “Any suggestion otherwise is false, and Warner Bros. Television intends to vigorously defend against these meritless claims.”
In a response sent on Tuesday to Bloys’ comments, a spokesperson for Sherri Crichton added: “Casey Bloys’ comments are not credible and ignore the facts of the case. The case is not about whether someone can do a show set in a hospital. It is about whether Warner Bros., John Wells, Noah Wyle, and Scott Gemmill can spend two years developing an ER reboot, negotiate with the estate for nearly a year to obtain consent per Michael Crichton’s contract, and, when they can’t get the terms they want, proceed with the exact same show with a different title and location. Mr. Bloys would have you believe that, within 72 hours of breaking off negotiations with the estate, the same creative team developed a completely new and original show that has nothing in common with ER and the planned reboot beyond the fact that it is set in a hospital and stars Noah Wyle. That’s absurd on its face, and the facts prove otherwise. The Pitt isn’t just another medical show. It is ER.”
Noah Wyle, Tracy Ifeachor, Patrick Ball, Supriya Ganesh, Fiona Dourif, Taylor Dearden, Isa Briones, Gerran Howell, Shabana Azeez and Katherine LaNasa. Other recent adds include Shawn Hatosy, Mika Abdalla, Michael Hyatt, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Brandon Mendez Homer, Kristin Villanueva, Amielynn Abellera, Alexandra Metz, Krystel V. McNeil and Deepti Gupta.
According to an official logline, “‘The Pitt’ is a realistic examination of the challenges facing healthcare workers in today’s America as seen through the lens of the frontline heroes working in a modern-day hospital in Pittsburgh.” Production for “The Pitt” began back in August. The first episode is set to release in 2025.
Series creator and showrunner R. Scott Gemmill wrote the pilot and executive produced with Wyle, John Wells, Erin Jontow, Simran Baidwan and Michael Hissrich. “The Pitt” is produced by John Wells Productions in association with Warner Bros.
Gemmill previously served as an executive producer on all 14 seasons of “NCIS: Los Angeles” and on Wells’ NBC medical drama “ER” from 1999 to 2008.
