"The Pitt" returns to Pittsburgh to film Season 3: "We love coming here"

Noah Wyle and the cast of the Emmy-winning medical drama "The Pitt" are back at Pittsburgh's Allegheny General Hospital to film the show's third season. 

"We love coming here," Wyle told local media on Monday. "Breaks up the monotony of filming on the soundstage on the Warner Bros. lot every day, getting to come and see the impact that this show has on the city and to feel the residents is really exciting." 

While most of "The Pitt" is filmed in Burbank, California, on a set designed to look like Allegheny General Hospital, the show is back in Pittsburgh this week to film exterior scenes on the helipad and in front of entryways. 

"It's really awesome to be back," said Patrick Ball, who plays Dr. Frank Langdon. "Took a little walk around this morning, went and found my coffee shop that I was at last year, and got stopped on the street by a couple of people that said, 'Hey,' which feels really nice. These are the people whose stories that we're telling, so whenever they're excited about it, that really means a lot. And then there were like way more people that didn't notice at all, and that also felt really accurate."

Wyle said the cast had a "great meal" at Barcelona Wine Bar in Pittsburgh's Cultural District, and Katherine LaNasa, who portrays nurse Dana Evans, said they like to go support Steel City, which she called "such a cute little shop." 

Part of the set for Season 3 includes a homeless encampment, which an interviewer pointed out some people thought was real. Wyle said a lot of research went into that storyline.

"As this show grows more and more globally, it seems appropriate to focus the narrative on something that was very local and relatable, so that is a theme this season," Wyle said. 

"The Pitt" has been lauded for its medical accuracy and gripping real-time format, with each episode representing one hour of a 15-hour emergency department shift. Wyle said this season will be set on Nov. 12. 

"So in a couple of weeks we'll actually be playing the day that we're playing, and we're all very excited for that moment to happen on the set," he said.  

As for why Nov. 12? 

"I like the notion that as bad as today is, tomorrow is Friday the 13th," Wyle said with a laugh.

The cast couldn't share much about what's in store for the next season, but Wyle, who plays Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, the chief of emergency medicine at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, said to expect "a slightly more aspirational Robby than you've met before."  

"I think Robby is making his way out of the proverbial pit; he's gone on sabbatical and he's come back to get the help that everybody told him that he should be getting," Wyle said. 

Wyle said the show was designed to be an "empathy generator" that focuses on the heroism and humanity of hospital workers, and he's heard from physicians that patients are coming in with more understanding of wait times.  

"One of the really gratifying bits of feedback we get is from families of people that work in this industry who feel like they now understand what their family members do in a way that is sometimes difficult for them to articulate or talk about when they get home," Wyle said. "So that feeling of feeling seen, feeling heard, feeling valued."