Two days after the medical drama "The Pitt" won five Emmy awards, Noah Wyle came to Pittsburgh to thank the people in the actual ER it depicts.

"The Pitt" is set at the emergency room of the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, based off of Allegheny General Hospital on the North Side. Wyle won his first Emmy for lead actor and another as executive producer of "The Pitt" after being nominated five times in the 90's for best supporting actor in ER.

"It felt humbling, you know. I don't know I expected it to feel humbling. It felt validating but also just awesome," Wyle said. 

Wyle and actor Patrick Ball, who plays Dr. Frank Langdon, came to Pittsburgh to thank the real ER doctors they play on TV — people like Dr. Brent Rau.

"I'm Noah. Noah's me," Rau joked. 

"I'm sure they've been answering to our show for a while now, being actual Pittsburgh ER physicians, so I want to go in there and apologize for anything that we need to apologize for and thank them for everything we should thank them for," Wyle said. 

In fact, Noah Wyle has inspired many physicians, some of whom reached out to Rau.

"Noah's role when he was in 'ER' inspired them to become a physician but Noah's role now in 'The Pitt' is inspiring them to stay as physicians and stay in health care as well," Rau said. 

"The Pitt" has a lot of references to Pittsburgh, like drinking Iron City Beer and a patient who worked on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." Wyle said he feels it's important to be authentic to Pittsburgh. 

"The more detail that we put in the show that makes it feel more Pittsburgh specific, I feel makes it more relatable to people that aren't from Pittsburgh because everyone has a Primanti's sandwich and everybody has an Iron City Beer in their town and the more specific you can identify it to this place, the more people feel like it's their place as well," Wyle said. 

In his Emmy speech, Wyle thanked health care workers. He says he planned to say more but was worried about going too long and taking money from the Boys and Girls Club.

"I really did want to dedicate the award to everybody that's in trenches, on the front lines that have been doing this for years without a break," Wyle said. "They are who we made the show for."

"The Pitt" is filming a second season set to premiere in 2026. Allegheny Health Network said production is back at the hospital this week. The show will film at locations like the LifeFlight helipad and various entrance ways. The rest of the show is filmed on a set in Burbank, California, designed to replicate Allegheny General Hospital. 

Wyle says he also has several Pittsburgh connections. His mom was born at Shadyside hospital, his dad went to Carnegie Mellon and his parents met here.