On Wednesday night, the doctors and nurses from Pittsburgh’s most stressful fictional hospital shed their scrubs for a few hours to celebrate the Season 2 premiere of “The Pitt,” HBO Max’s hyper-realistic medical drama. Noah Wyle, Katherine LaNasa and the new cast member Sepideh Moafi were among the stars who walked a light-brown carpet at the Directors Guild of America theater complex in Los Angeles.
Each season dramatizes one 15-hour shift inside a crowded emergency room of a large trauma center in Pittsburgh, known as the Pitt, and each episode captures about an hour of chaos that can feel as if it’s unfolding in real time.
“It’s more mayhem, more pressure,” said Damian Marcano, a co-executive producer and director of the show, which premieres on HBO at 9 p.m. on Thursday. “And you wonder, How do these people continue to do this day after day?”
In many ways, “The Pitt” started as an underdog. It began quietly streaming last January without a premiere (HBO Max scrapped the Season 1 event when wildfires broke out in Altadena and Pacific Palisades). It could have gotten lost in the shadow of “ER,” which, like “The Pitt,” was also shaped by the television veterans R. Scott Gemmill, John Wells and Mr. Wyle. But by the end of the first season, it had a dedicated audience, and the episodes drew more than 21 million viewers. It also snagged five awards at the Emmys last September, including best drama, one of the night’s biggest prizes.
Mr. Wyle’s character, Dr. Michael Robinavitch — a seasoned attending physician better known as Dr. Robby — is the heart of the show, running the emergency department and educating the younger staff members as they face major challenges. Season 2 picks up 10 months after the first, around sunrise on July 4, as Dr. Robby motorcycles to his shift without a helmet.
For a show that strives to address the challenges faced by America’s frontline workers at a hospital that is understaffed and underfunded, the date is not a coincidence.
“We wanted to play with some of the themes that are really pressing in health care right now, whether it’s budgetary cuts or cuts to Medicaid,” said Mr. Wyle, who is also a writer, director and executive producer on the show.
“A hospital is a wonderful microcosm of a society,” he added. “I mean, you get a good cross section of the people that live there, a good cross section of the socioeconomic class that exists there.”
Mr. Wyle, who won his first Emmy for best actor in a drama last year, famously stepped into the role of television doctor when “ER” premiered in 1994. He received five Emmy nominations for the part but never won. His commitment to realism runs through “The Pitt.” Actors attend medical boot camp each season, and real doctors correct techniques on set.
Amanda Marsalis, a director of the show, said there is a doctor present on set for each episode, offering notes if any procedures don’t look “good enough.”
She added: “The only person who doesn’t get that note is Noah. I would let the man cut me open, I swear to God.”
The new season also takes place on Dr. Robby’s last day before a much-needed, three-month sabbatical, and he meets the Pitt’s new and eager attending physician: Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi (Ms. Moafi).
“Even in the most simple scenes, the energy and the intensity that you’re carrying from the scene before or from the episode before, it’s always at level 10,” Ms. Moafi said. “Often I find myself going home and falling asleep and then waking up a couple hours later because your cortisol is through the roof.”
The hard work seems to have paid off. As everyone settled into their seats for a screening of the first episode of the new season, Casey Bloys, the chairman and chief executive of HBO and HBO Max content, announced that “The Pitt” was already renewed for a third season, surprising showrunners and cast members. After the screening, attendees moved to the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood for an after-party.
Guests grabbed sushi rolls and sashimi from massive tables on the terrace and sipped on signature cocktails like the Southside Sabbatical (vodka, mint and lime topped with Prosecco) and Dr. Robby’s Reposado (tequila, basil, lemon and ginger).
As music by Diana Ross, Prince and Madonna played on the dance floor, guests grabbed compression socks from Figs, the scrubs company that outfitted Mr. Wyle in a tuxedo for the Emmys. Austin Janik, a magician, moved through the room to entertain attendees, guessing names of loved ones and phone passcodes, among other tricks.
The night wound down well before midnight, as many cast and crew members planned to return to set early the next morning to finish shooting Season 2. Ms. LaNasa, who won a best supporting actress Emmy for her role as the charge nurse Dana Evans, said that the intensity of the show didn’t really phase her.
“I have a lot of stamina, and I’m also super grateful for this moment that I’m having,” Ms. LaNasa said. “You know, before this show, I had cancer, and I couldn’t get a job, so I’ll take a long day.”
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