Noah Wyle Talks About Playing a Jewish Doctor on ‘The Pitt’ (Exclusive)

Warning: The post contains spoilers for The Pitt, season 2, episode 3.

Noah Wyle is exploring new territory on The Pitt.

Wyle, 54, exclusively tells PEOPLE about his experience playing a Jewish doctor, Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, in the hit HBO medical drama and his decision to reference the real Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in the third episode of season 2.

“This is all new territory for me,” Wyle admits, sharing that his mother is Episcopalian and his father is Jewish, but he does not consider himself “particularly religious.”

The actor, who also serves as a writer and producer for the show, and directs an episode in the current season, says that he and executive producer John Wells drew from his own Jewish heritage for the character.

Wyle remembers being asked about his family name, Rabinovich, by Wells. The executive producer, whom he previously worked with on ER, suggested using the name as inspiration for his character. “Why don’t we do that?” Wyle recalls Wells saying. “Why don’t we call him Robby?”

The Emmy winner reacted in surprise, saying, “I was like, ‘A Jewish character?’ I’ve never played a Jewish character before. I’ve never owned that part of myself on-camera before.”

Comparing playing Robby to portraying Dr. John Carter on ER for 11 consecutive seasons from 1994-2005, he says, “It’s the complete antithesis of John Carter, who is such a WASP [White Anglo-Saxon Protestant] in so many ways.”

Robby’s religious background was spotlighted in the penultimate episode of season 1 when he recited the Shema prayer during a mass casualty event.

The choice for the senior attending to say the prayer was Wyle’s. “I talked to Simran Baidwan, who wrote episode 14, and I said, ‘Let’s put this prayer in there.’ At his lowest moment, he reverts back to something he might’ve heard his grandmother say,” the actor explains. 

“It’s almost like a very primitive cry for help. It’s the opening of the door to a desire for faith, whether you have it or not,” he adds. 

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Wyle says it “would have been irresponsible not to pick up the thread” of Robby’s religion in season 2, which, once again, follows a medical team during a 15-hour shift at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. But one question challenged the writers: “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.

The Thursday, Jan. 22 episode, which Wyle wrote, features a patient who survived the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, Pa. — a real tragedy in 2018 that caused the death of 11 people and injured several others. The patient, Yana (Irina Dubova), questions Robby about his religious practices as he treats her for a severe burn.

The doctor returns one of her questions, asking her where she goes for religious services. “Tree of Life,” the patient says, to which he softly says, “They’re rebuilding.”

As the shift takes place on the Fourth of July, Robby eventually tells Yana, “We’re going to have you patched up and home in time for dinner and fireworks.” She replies, “No, no more fireworks,” in reference to the lasting psychological effects of the shooting.

Later in the episode, the patient has a touching moment with Perlah Alawi, a Filipino Muslim nurse played by Amielynn Abellera. “After the shooting, it was the Muslims that came together for us in support and walked with us. You raised money, you paid for all the funerals,” the patient tells the nurse as she assists with her treatment. 

Wyle describes Yana as someone who challenges Robby “like his grandmother would if she was in the room with him.”

As for writing the tragedy into the script, he says, “That was such a horrific event and it was so significant to the city of Pittsburgh. We didn’t talk about it in season 1, and in researching to write about it, the part I was most moved by was how the Muslim community came together in solidarity with the Jewish community.”

“I would rather talk about that than replay the tragedy,” Wyle says.

The Pitt season 2 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes debuting Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT until the finale on April 16.