Gerran Howell Is the Not-So-Secret Weapon of The Pitt
erran Howell has seen better days. When I Zoom with the 34-year-old Welsh actor in advance of The Pitt season 2, he looks like he walked right out of the emergency room and into our interview... because he did. Howell, who plays the Nebraska-born Dr. Whitaker on the HBO series, is in the home stretch of filming season 2—which means that there's not even enough time to change out of Whitaker's blue scrubs before our chat. Even worse: Howell is giving up his lunch break to talk to me, which somehow feels like a very Whitaker thing to do. Such is life for a TV doctor.
"We all naturally get very tired, which we're all very grateful for," Howell explains. "It works for our characters on screen because they're all very tired at this point in the story. They tend to put less makeup on me the longer we go, because it's like, 'No, you're looking tired. This is perfect!'"
If Howell is feeling the end of his fictional (and real) shift when we speak in early December, then in the season 2 premiere—which debuted on HBO Max this Thursday night—he's looking as refreshed as we'll ever see the guy. When we're reintroduced to Dr. Whitaker (season 2 takes place on Fourth of July weekend, ten months after the PittFest shooting) he seems like a different man. And it's not just Whitaker's new hairstyle (a mullet in progress?!) that's giving the artist formerly known as Huckleberry a different vibe. "Everyone keeps saying there's a glow-up happen there, but the bar was low from season 1, man," Howell says, laughing.
The young doctor, who was perpetually scared shitless (and covered in all matter of bodily fluids) as a medical student in season 1, is now a first-year resident—and he's acting like it. Whitaker appears far more confident, even mentoring two newbie medical students, the indignant James Ogilvie (Lucas Iverson) and the bored Joy Kwon (Irene Choi). The influence of the impenetrable Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) is remarkably clear on Whitaker, who is looking more and more like his mentor by the hour. "He's massively influenced by Robby," Howell adds. "That first shift was a nightmare for everyone. Robby would never admit it, but I think they see each other. Whitaker is just enamored by Robby and is just following in his footsteps a little bit."
Full Interview:
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a69926826/gerran-howell-the-pitt-season-2-interview/