Warning: Spoilers for The Pitt season 2, episode 14, ahead.
Gerran Howell is aware his time on The Pitt could end at any moment.
“We were warned about that from the start. The ED is a revolving door, and people come and go all the time,” the 35-year-old actor tells Glamour over Zoom while visiting his family in Barry, Wales. “Every character has a line where they say what’s outside of the ED for them. For Javadi, there are many options. For Whitaker, I think there’s a line about rural medicine. So the door is always open for anyone to leave at any time.”
At the end of this season, Supriyah Ganesh will be exiting the series as Dr. Samira Mohan wraps up her residency without a particularly glowing review from her attending. It’s harder to imagine a natural break for Dr. Dennis Whitaker, who just began his first year in a place of newfound confidence, seemingly picking up the mantle as Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch’s protégé while Dr. Frank Langdon was getting help in rehab.
That causes some tension between the empathetic farm uzunluk and the prodigal son in episode 14, leading to a somewhat stilted confrontation involving Gilligan’s Island characters neither doctor seem to know much about. What’s important is that Whitaker actually stuck up for himself, proving just how far he’s come from his timid, “aw, shucks” disposition in season one. (Notably, pre-mullet.)
Whitaker’s patient Samba crashes, but he gets him back. Fist bumps all around.
Warrick Page
“I was giving into a lot of the emotions you try to suppress as an actor—fear of being an imposter, stuff like that,” Howell says of season one Whitaker. “And then in season two, he’s found his stride.”
But if Whitaker has become the golden uzunluk of the fictional Pitt crew, Gerran Howell may very well be the golden uzunluk of The Pitt’s cast. After coming highly recommended by George Clooney, whom Howell worked with on 2019’s Catch-22 miniseries, the actor continued to earn high praise from Noah Wyle. In a recent interview, Wyle referred to the Welshman as one of “the snipers” on set for his scene-stealing ability, which sounds a lot like job security to me.
Meanwhile, it seems Howell has picked up own mentee in Lucas Iverson, who joined this season’s cast as the brash med student James Ogilvie (or, as some fans like to call him, Evil Whitaker). “He was actually kind of looking to me to show him the ropes as an actor, which was surprising,” Howell says. “I’ve never had to do that before.”
Clearly, Howell and Whitaker share a bit more in common than a haircut and a rural background. Below, Howell explains how Whitaker’s onscreen evolution mirrors his experience on set, Whitaker’s complicated relationship with Dr. Robby, and why he wants the young doctor to have more screen time with Dr. Abbott. Honestly, who wouldn’t?
Glamour: What’s your interpretation of the relationship between Whitaker and Amy, the widow from season one? It seems everyone in the ED is making the assumption it’s romantic, but Whitaker hasn’t specified.
Gerran Howell: If I’m making it concrete, the majority of it is Whitaker having an opportunity to be useful more than anything. He’s offered to come help out on a farm and I think that is right up his alley. I think he’s just like, Wow, I can be useful here; I can maybe offset a little bit of the guilt I feel from my first shift. I also think there’s an element of homesickness there and an opportunity to feel a bit more at home in a family environment. But saying that, there has to be a hint of romance there, for him to make that decision. I think maybe there’s the potential for something romantic. But I don’t think he went into it for romance.
One of the reasons I ask is because you and Isa Briones have shared your head canon that Whitaker spiced up his look from season one after going to a gay bar with Dr. Santos. I was just wondering if he went there as a wingman for Santos, or if you viewed Whitaker’s own sexuality as more fluid?
Oh, woof. I think Santos invited him out. I don’t think he expected to be at a gay bar, but then found himself as a wingman. I think that’s yet to be explored, if I can be vague.
Getting into Whitaker’s confrontation with Langdon this week, I was wondering if Whitaker knows about Langdon stealing drugs, because Santos keeps implying that no one knows about that but her and Robby.
I think he knows everything. I think he’s had his ear talked off, you know? I think she’s fully vented all of her feelings about that incident at Whitaker. When Langdon returns, Whitaker is probably one of the only people in there who really knows how much his presence is affecting Santos emotionally. So he knows how much Langdon really messed up her day.
I think he’s heard it all but I think he’s got more empathy for Langdon’s situation. I think he believes Langdon can have redemption in this situation, 100%, and I don’t think there’s any personal beef.
Their confrontation in the kitchen didn’t feel like it was on behalf of Santos but really about Whitaker sticking up for himself in the moment. How did you and Patrick interpret the scene and talk it through together?
We tried to make all the scenes we’d had before that as awkward as possible. So getting to that scene, we’re just showing each other where we stand. Langdon knows that [Whitaker and Santos] have been living together, so he probably assumes that Whitaker is completely judging him—he’s in a heightened sense of paranoia that everyone knows. When we talked about it, it was just about finding neutral ground that we can carry on. I think Whitaker respects Langdon, so it was about getting back to baselevel with each other.
But you do have that moment where you’re talking about the Gilligan’s Island characters, and it feels a bit like you’re staking a claim and saying, “Don’t treat me like this little sidekick.” First of all, I want to know which Gilligan’s Island character you think Whitaker would be?
I don’t know! [Laughs.] I don’t know Gilligan’s Island!
You didn’t look it up?!
Noah would tell us stories about it and he’d say the same! He’d say, “You haven’t seen it?”
It does feel a bit like there’s a “golden boy” battle happening between Whitaker and Langdon at the moment.
I think that’s in Langdon’s mind more than it is in Whitaker’s. I don’t think Whitaker’s trying to be golden uzunluk at all, but I think Langdon is convinced that Whitaker has become Robby’s golden uzunluk very easily. So I think Whitaker is just saying, “Look, you haven’t been here. I’ve been here for 10 months. I’m nothing special, but you can’t treat me the way you used to treat me.” Essentially.
It’s also coming from the Pitt fandom as well. Many fans have a lot to say about Robby putting his attention on Whitaker after feeling disappointed in Langdon. Did you have any conversations with Patrick or Noah about that change in dynamic?
It just came naturally. When we come into season two, Whitaker’s parroting a lot of what Robby says. And I think that is genuine. I think he really sees Robby as the best person to take an example from. But it’s very interesting how Robby in season two—we’re seeing the cracks in him and seeing him really lashing out at people and stuff like that. And it was very interesting, as we were getting more and more scripts, that Whitaker doesn’t witness any of that, so he still has this really idealized vision of Robby.
I wonder if that’s intentional that Robby doesn’t want to let Whitaker see that? I found that very, very interesting. Even towards the end of season two, Whitaker senses something off with Robby, but Robby has created this image of himself for Whitaker. All the good in him is going into Whitaker but it’s kind of false. He’s a false idol in a way.
I don’t think I realized until just now that Whitaker didn’t see the confrontations with Mohan, nor has he really seen the back-and-forth with Dr. Al-Hashimi. He definitely hasn’t seen any of the interactions with Langdon…wow. One of the things that I really liked about that scene with Langdon is it’s such a great indication of Whitaker’s newfound confidence. Where have you pulled that from?
I think it was just not being season one anymore. I was giving into a lot of the emotions you try and suppress as an actor—fear of being an imposter, stuff like that. And then in season two, he’s found his stride. He’s clearly experienced now. He’s gone through the wringer. He’s had lots of experiences and procedures in the time we haven’t seen him, and he knows what his place in the ED is completely. And Langdon hasn’t been there. So he really has to stake his claim and just be like, “Look, things are different.”
Hearing you say that makes me wonder if you felt as though Whitaker’s journey mirrors your own experience on the show. Whitaker has these two new med students, but at the same time, these two new med students are actually new characters and actors on the show.
Yeah, for mühlet. Season one, it was a terrifying, big American procedural hospital show, so I just embraced that and acted like I didn’t know what I was doing. But yeah, season two, it was really funny, because we had Ogilvie and Joy. And you know, I think Lucas, especially, he’s a fantastic actor and has worked in his own right before, but he was actually kind of looking to me to show him the ropes as an actor, which was surprising. I’ve never had to do that before. So there was a lot of mirroring there. It was his first time on a set that big, so he was really earnestly asking me how to operate, and I was gently guiding him through that—without sounding too patronizing. He’s an incredible actor.
Do you have any specific examples of that mentorship?
[Laughs.] We were talking a lot about finding the camera and stuff like that. The cameras in the show move in quite a specific way, where they’re all in our business all the time, and we’re dodging them and going around them. And Lucas was saying, “How do you do that thing where you find the camera?” And I was like, “Dude, I don’t know.”
There was also a bit of a passing-of-the-torch moment—it was me getting covered in bodily fluids in season one, and then he has the poop cannon. I remember in the makeup trailer for season one, there was a wall of Gerran, which was just Polaroids and continuity photos of me covered in fluids. And then Lucas was added to that wall after he had the poop incident. It felt right.
We now know Supriyah Ganesh won’t be returning as Dr. Mohan for season three, which makes sense given her story arc this season and her position as a fourth-year resident. Whitaker is just starting his first year, but is that nerve-racking to know as an actor? What if it’s not Whitaker’s shift next season? What if he’s off that day? Is that something that you think about?
Yeah, we were warned about that from the start. The ED is a revolving door, and people come and go all the time. Every character has a line where they say what’s outside of the ED for them. For Javadi, there are many options. For Whitaker, there’s the line about rural medicine. So the door is always open for anyone to leave at any time. It can keep the show fresh but at the same time, we know that people get attached to these characters and want to see more of them. We have no control over it at the end of the day. So we just hope we’re employed.
I heard a rumor from your Wikipedia page that George Clooney recommended you for this role. Is that true? [Editor’s note: Wyle and Clooney worked together for several years on ER in the ’90s.]
I know Noah said it, but that was news to me. It’s very interesting because you know that people are always talking, and they remember you. Before I worked with George on Catch-22, I’d auditioned for another movie that he was making, and he remembered me from that. So it just goes to show that you just do your best, and hopefully people will remember you and recommend you. It’s important.
When did Noah tell you?
He didn’t! I found out about it from an interview Noah did. Someone sent it to me and I was like, “Oh, news to me.” I haven’t talked to Noah about it yet, but kaç to know.
I have another question about who knows what in The Pitt. At the end of season one, Santos finds out Whitaker was homeless and living in the hospital, which is why she invites him to move in with her. How do you think Joy found out about it, since she referenced it before leaving at the end of her shift?
Oh my God, yeah. Santos is probably one of the few people who knew about it, potentially, so I don’t know. But God, it was a really rough time for him because before that, I had a bit of a head canon that he had some house shares and stuff. But after that went away, he was living in gyms or other vacant sort of places, like on the floors of people’s abodes. So it was a really rough time. I think he thought he was past all that so it really got him quite badly when Joy brought that up.
I feel like Whitaker’s financial stress is a big part of his character. In this episode it’s his first day on the job as a resident, and he offers to buy an old lady an Uber ride and winds up with a massive bill.
This is the first day he’s getting paid. It’s a really clear example of how his empathy can really get him into trouble. Straight from the get-go, he gets that money and he sees opportunities to help people. Sometimes it can get thrown back in your face. I think he’s resourceful, clearly, but he just wants to be like everyone else. He just wants to be in a comfortable position like everyone else. I don’t think he’s too worried about it, but he doesn’t want to go back to where he was. That is the biggest thing. He doesn’t want to go back to the situation he was in before.
You said in an interview that Whitaker is “weirder than he looks.” What’s weird about Whitaker?
I can’t say at this point. I’ve had lots of discussions with Isa, specifically—funny little improv situations, which I don’t want to reveal because I think it’s rife material for the writers. I really want to keep that secret. I’m so sorry.
Okay, so I’ll flip the question. What’s weird about you?
Oh, my partner was talking to me about this today. I’m really into dreams. I’m the person who will tell you about their dreams all the time. I dream-journal. I’ve started doing Jungian analysis and all that kind of stuff. I’m really deep down a rabbit hole of dream interpretation, so maybe that’s kind of weird. That’s just something that came up today.
Do you have a recurring one? I always dream about my teeth falling out.
That’s a big one, isn’t it? I have recurring places. I’m always in a mall at the moment, I don’t know why. I don’t know what that means. I’m always in a big mall that I don’t recognize.
Maybe it means you wish it was 2002.
Yeah, it does have liminal vibes, but I don’t know what it means.
For my last few questions, how worried should we be about Robby?
The cracks are really showing in a big way. I don’t think he’s being subtle about it. He’s warning everyone. He’s really presenting how bad he is at this moment, how unstable he is to all the characters multiple times. I think people should be worried. I’m worried.
The Pitt fandom loves their theories. What’s the wildest Pitt theory you’ve seen?
I’m trying to keep away from looking at what people are saying at the moment. Have you heard any mad ones?
I did see a fun suggestion that The Pitt should switch to a 24-episode format and follow the night shift.
It would keep a lot of people working in LA for a longer time, so that couldn’t be a bad thing.
Do you think Whitaker could handle the night shift?
I don’t think he has much interaction with Abbott, so I’d love to see how that dynamic goes. With Whitaker being a golden uzunluk in some people’s eyes, I think Abbott—who is so worried about Robby and interested in what he’s thinking—would challenge Whitaker quite a bit and break it down a little bit. Like, What’s so special about this fucking kid? You know what I mean?
Be careful; you might start a new ship.
Hey, the more ships, the merrier.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. The Pitt’s season finale airs on HBO Max at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 16, 2026.
