NEED TO KNOW
- Noah Wyle discusses in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE how his time on ER and his role as a Jewish doctor on The Pitt are different.
- “I have never previously portrayed a Jewish character. He remarks, “I’ve never owned that aspect of myself on camera before.”
- In the most recent episode of the popular HBO series, the actor’s character, Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, develops a bond with a patient who survived the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Wyle, 54, discusses his experience as Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, a Jewish doctor in the popular HBO medical drama, and his choice to make reference to the actual Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in the third episode of season 2.
Wyle acknowledges that “this is all new territory for me,” adding that although his father is Jewish and his mother is Episcopalian, he does not view himself as “particularly religious.”
The actor, who also directs an episode in the current season and is a writer and producer for the program, claims that he and executive producer John Wells took inspiration for the role from his own Jewish background.
Wyle recalls Wells asking him about his family name, Rabinovich. The executive producer, with whom he had previously collaborated on ER, proposed drawing inspiration for his role from the name. “Why don’t we do that?” Wyle remembers what Wells said. “Why don’t we call him Robby?”
In response, the Emmy winner said, “I thought, ‘A Jewish character?'” I’ve never portrayed a Jewish character. I’ve never had that aspect of myself on television before.
As he puts it, “It’s the complete antithesis of John Carter, who is such a WASP [White Anglo-Saxon Protestant] in so many ways.” He compares playing Robby to playing Dr. John Carter on ER for 11 seasons in a row from 1994 to 2005.
When Robby recited the Shema prayer amid a mass casualty catastrophe in the penultimate episode of season 1, it brought attention to his religious background.
Wyle was the senior who was chosen to lead the prayer. ‘Let’s include this prayer,’ I suggested to Simran Baidwan, who penned episode 14. The actor says, “When he’s feeling down, he goes back to something he might have heard his grandmother say.”
It resembles a very rudimentary scream for assistance. Whether you have faith or not, it’s the beginning of a desire for it,” he continues.
In season 2, which once again centers on a medical team working a 15-hour shift at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, Wyle claims that it “would have been irresponsible not to pick up the thread” of Robby’s religion. However, the writers faced a hurdle when asked, “How do you weave it into the narrative?”
“Bring in a character that helps flesh it out,” he explains, and that character made an appearance in the third episode of the season.
Wyle authored the Thursday, January 22 episode, which centers on a patient who survived the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which claimed 11 lives and injured several others. As Robby tends to Yana’s (Irina Dubova) severe burn, the patient asks him about his religious beliefs.
One of her questions is answered by the doctor, who inquires as to where she attends religious services. The patient says, “Tree of Life,” and he responds quietly, “They’re rebuilding.”
At some point during the Fourth of July shift, Robby informs Yana, “We’re going to have you patched up and home in time for dinner and fireworks.” “No, no more fireworks,” she responds, alluding to the shooting’s lingering psychological repercussions.
The patient and Perlah Alawi, a Filipino Muslim nurse portrayed by Amielynn Abellera, share a heartwarming moment later in the episode. “The Muslims gathered together to encourage us and walk with us after the shooting. As the nurse helps with her care, the patient informs her, “You raised money, you paid for all the funerals.”
According to Wyle, Yana confronts Robby “like his grandmother would if she was in the room with him.”
“That was such a horrific event and it was so significant to the city of Pittsburgh,” he says in reference to the tragedy being written into the script. We didn’t discuss it in season 1, and while I was doing research for my article, the thing that most touched me was how the Muslim community united with the Jewish community.
“I would rather talk about that than replay the tragedy,” says Wyle.
Up until the finale on April 16, fresh episodes of The Pitt season 2 will air on HBO Max every Thursday at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
