When HBO’s top-rated TV show, The Pitt, wrote an ICE storyline into an upcoming episode, HBO had just one note.
“I don’t want to be in a situation where it’s a surprise,” The Pitt‘s lead producer, John Wells, said on Thursday. “And their response was, ‘Good story. Just make sure it’s balanced, and we’re not just treating the situation as if it doesn’t have other points of view.’”
Wells, 69, said he notified HBO about the episode because of its parent company’s impending multibillion-dollar merger. They began filming the episode in December, shortly after Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns HBO Max, announced its agreement with Netflix.
“When we first pitched it, I thought, ‘Uh oh,’ you know,” Wells recalled. “I can say that all of us are approaching what’s going on in this country right now with a certain trepidation, and also awareness that there are some possible risks to telling certain kinds of stories.”
Unlike ER, Wells’s first collaboration with the show’s star, Noah Wyle, The Pitt is as explicit in its politics as it is with medical procedures.
In previous episodes, the Emmy-winning drama featured storylines on mass shootings, for-profit healthcare, and anti-vaccine sentiments. Now, Wells said, they’re taking on immigration enforcement.
“There is an ICE situation coming up because it’s a real issue in emergency rooms. And in fact, there was just recently a New York Times article about it,” Wells told The Town host Matt Belloni.
The article Wells refers to reports on how ICE’s presence in Minneapolis was enough to “unnerve health care workers,” and details their interactions with the immigration officers.
“The thing we have to be careful about when we’re talking about any of these issues,” Wells said, “is to make certain that we’re actually presenting both points of view, because we’re not really in the business of preaching to the choir on this show.”
While the TV director didn’t hint at what the episode will include, he noted that “as long as it’s truthful,” he hopes viewers will “stick with” the show.
Noah Wyle, 54, who plays the show’s senior physician and helped create The Pitt, told Obsessed last spring that the show has real-world implications.
“This has been a catalyst for some really beautiful conversations in people’s homes,” Wyle said.
The show has been well-received in the medical community, which Wyle attributes to igniting its meteoric success: “Getting that stamp of credibility, I think, is the best marketing tool we could have asked for.”
New episodes of The Pitt stream on HBO Max every Thursday.
