Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers up to The Pitt Season 2 Episode 7.

With HBO’s The Pitt now returned for Season 2, the latest shift for the doctors and nurses working in the emergency department of the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center just got even more complicated. This week’s episode, “1:00 P.M.,” reveals the real reason behind Westbridge Hospital’s “Code Black,” which has resulted in all of their patients being diverted to PTMC: hospitals are being hit with a cyberattack, and to avoid the same fate, The Pitt has to go offline.

Before that happens, however, the seventh hour of R. Scott Gemmill, John Wells, and Noah Wyle‘s medical drama finally welcomes in a familiar face in the form of Shawn Hatosy‘s Dr. Jack Abbot, who rolls in with a SWAT team seemingly just in time to help the ER buckle down for the worst. With the hospital’s CEO going above Dr. Robby (Wyle) to fill in Dr. Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi) on what’s going on, will that only add to the tension that’s been brewing between them since the beginning of the shift? Ahead of The Pitt‘s return, Collider had the opportunity to speak with the show’s creators and cast alike about some of Season 2’s most pivotal moments over the first six episodes, including Hatosy and Moafi. Below, the co-stars discuss Abbot’s unexpected entrance in Season 2, why Robby and Al-Hashimi’s conflict is a joy to play, which Season 1 moment Hatosy still feels did Abbot dirty, and more.

COLLIDER: Shawn, what can you tee up for us about Abbot and what we can look forward to when he finally rolls in this season?

SHAWN HATOSY: Well, when we last left Abbot, he was up on the roof with Robby, talking him off the ledge. He says at the end of that season, “My therapist says I find comfort in the darkness.” He tries to tell Robby that maybe he should talk to a therapist, so I think as we come into Season 2, we’re definitely going to be checking in on that to make sure that the toll that this job is taking on Robby isn’t going to be too much.

That’s one of Abbot’s focuses. The other thing is he comes in in a very unexpected way. He actually moonlights on a SWAT team. They often use a doctor on SWAT teams in case something goes wrong, who is qualified to carry a gun. So something wild happens, and he has to come in, and that’s how he shows up in fatigues. That’s where he meets the great new attending physician, Dr. Al-Hashimi.

Sepideh Moafi Reveals What She Enjoys About Going Head-to-Head With Noah Wyle in ‘The Pitt’ Season 2

“You’re used to calling the shots, both of us, with our respective backgrounds.”

Image via HBO Max

To tie this all into Robby, we know at the beginning of Season 2 that he is set to be taking a sabbatical. It sounds like a much-needed one. Dr. Al-Hashimi is intended to be his replacement, stepping in, but there’s been a bit of overlap. She’s there, he’s there, and we immediately see that these two have very different leadership styles. There is that initial rockiness of who should take the lead and with which med students, and who should be stepping back. Sepideh, I wanted to ask you about what you enjoyed about getting to go through those bumpy moments with Noah [Wyle] at the beginning of the season.

SEPIDEH MOAFI: Oh my gosh, those moments are so delicious where we’re talking over each other or finishing each other’s sentences, not on purpose. It’s so fun as the actor to play, and as the character, it’s a bit jarring, because you’re used to having the leadership role. You’re used to calling the shots, both of us, with our respective backgrounds. Now it’s two people in leadership positions, and one, as I think you mentioned, has a very different approach to medicine.

Dr. Al-Hashimi represents the more modern approach, the modernization of medicine, and Dr. Robby is the more traditional, sort of old-school approach. So sometimes, they clash, these two different approaches and personalities. He’s not used to having somebody else there who calls the shots and who’s in charge. She’s, as a woman in any profession, used to male counterparts being a bit cutting or condescending at times, but she takes it in stride and knows that they are both really good at their jobs. They just have different ins into medicine.

Ultimately, there is some harmony. They do harmonize together — though there is a lot of dissonance, too, throughout the season. But just for us as actors, Noah [Wyle] and I playing these scenes, it’s so much fun because it requires such radical presence and aliveness and really listening to each other and trying to hold back in certain moments and then other moments just letting loose. So, it’s been quite a journey, and I’m excited for people to experience that journey.

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Wyle also teases whether the tension between Robby and Langdon will eventually boil over by the end of this shift.

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One quote that Dr. Al-Hashimi has in this season that really stuck out to me and felt like almost an unofficial mantra for this character and who she is is when you have the line of “Just because you know it’s broken doesn’t mean you stop trying.” [She’s] talking about a lot of the failures of the modern healthcare system and the places where maybe the hospital isn’t as well-equipped to handle certain issues. Do you feel like that is what sums her up in her approach to medicine? “I understand that the system I’m working in isn’t perfect, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop looking for ways to try and fix it, even if they’re small fixes here and there”?

MOAFI: Absolutely. I think if there were a few lines that were at her core, her foundation, that would be one of them. I would take it a step further and say it’s not that she thinks the system is not perfect. She knows it’s a broken system, which is why she’s finding alternative ways, different modalities of reorganizing, reshaping, and advancing medicine. At the beginning, as you saw, there was an introduction where she’s talking about using AI or using technology in order to implement some of these changes. Not for novelty’s sake, but in order to improve patient-centered care and medicine, in order to relieve some of the burden that these physicians carry every day, the emotional weight, the bandwidth. There’s always too much need in the hospitals and not enough time, and we are all human.

The whole idea with her approach to AI is that you are able to delegate some of this responsibility, able to offload some of this admin charting. I think it’s something like 28% of a physician’s time is spent at the patient’s bedside. The other 72% is spent charting or doing admin work. So, if we’re able to relieve some of that pressure, some of that workload, with the strict supervision of the physicians, of the nurses, then this could be beneficial for everyone. The idea is not to have technology take over, but to relieve some of the burden. You have to fixate on the light. You have to hold this myopic approach to healing, and where can we find little glimmers of hope that’ll keep us going? So, like you said, this is a constitutional part of who she is, this idea that just because something isn’t working or it’s broken, it doesn’t mean that you stop the fight.

For the Record, Shawn Hatosy Has Great Hand-Eye Coordination (Even if ‘The Pitt’ Season 1 Did Him Dirty)

“I just want to state for the record that I am an amazing athlete.”

Image via HBO Max

Shawn, one of my favorite moments from last season is the moment where everybody circles up outside the hospital, has some beers in the park, and it’s nice to see the doctors and the nurses getting a chance to take a break from the craziness of the shift. Is there anything along those lines that we can look forward to in Season 2, potentially a little bit of downtime?

HATOSY: I think so. And I just want to say that when they throw Abbot the beer, and he doesn’t catch it, that was scripted. I’m a stellar athlete, and I just want everybody to know that there was a line when he drops it that said, “Now you know why I didn’t become a surgeon,” and they cut that line. So it just makes Abbot look clumsy and not athletic, and I just want to state for the record that I am an amazing athlete. I just want you to know that.

MOAFI: Shawn has trauma from that moment. It’s still affecting him.

HATOSY: I do think there is a moment of everybody coming together.

But just so that we have it on the record: great hand-eye coordination from Shawn Hatosy.

HATOSY: Can you please just let this be the headline of the article?

We’re going to clear some things up.

HATOSY: How are they going to leave an actor hanging like that? Cut out the line, and then just make him look clumsy. Who does that?

The mid-aughts were a treasure trove of heightened teen dramas, and in its day, Veronica Mars was the crème of the crop. The series was a perfect combination of film noir tropes within the heightened world of teen drama. Starring Kristen Bell as the titular teen detective, Veronica Mars was full of wit while also delving into mature topics set in a high school setting. The daughter of a former sheriff turned private investigator, Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni), Veronica is devastated when her best friend Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried) is murdered. In typical film noir fashion, Keith turns into a hard-boiled detective after he ruins his career by accusing the Kane family of foul play.

Veronica’s social cachet is destroyed when she sides with her father, even though this weaponizes her friends against her. She loses her boyfriend, Duncan (Teddy Dunn), and becomes a social pariah. The worst treatment comes from Lilly’s boyfriend, Logan (Jason Dohring), who makes it his purpose in life to ruin hers after what Keith did. Veronica Mars cleverly takes the genre of film noir and adapts it for a high school setting as Veronica becomes just as clever as her father in solving crimes. As she continues to look into Lilly’s case, refusing to believe the killer has been caught, her romantic life develops as well. Bell’s chemistry with Dohring was unavoidable, and their respective characters grow closer because of it. This setup leads to an epic romance between Veronica and Logan, which spans the life of the series. This fact is ultimately what put the nail in the coffin for the series, despite all its potential.

‘Veronica Mars’ Season 4 Shocker Ruined What Was So Good About the Series

Veronica Mars’ cult status was secured long before the last season of the series premiered. After the UPN merger with The WB, the series tragically only lasted one more season. Season 3 ends in the college setting, leaving Veronica and Logan’s relationship up in the air. Much like Veronica herself, fans demanded justice and eventually got it with the 2014 fan-funded film. The Veronica Mars movie gave Veronica and Logan the ending they deserved without the characters skipping a beat.

The film gave the series the momentum it needed to return in the streaming age with another season on Hulu. This result regrettably had a less than favorable response. Because Veronica returns to Neptune, California, as an adult, the series effectively became more mature. Veronica’s relationship with Logan becomes more complex, which was not necessarily a direction that fans were interested in. The couple’s engagement and subsequent marriage end in tragedy after Logan is killed by a car bomb meant for Veronica. This tragedy turns her into a jaded version of herself who is a far cry from the character that fans fell in love with in the first place.

Logan is the MVP of ‘Veronica Mars’

Image via UPN

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Veronica Mars still maintains a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, a fact that is soured by the destruction of one of the main selling points of the series. Jason Dohring steals the show in absolutely every scene he’s in. His snappy one-liners and fleshed-out backstory made him a fan-favorite. This is one of the reasons why he so quickly turns from a one-dimensional villain in the first season to a complex character with depth. Fans fell in love with him after seeing him as the survivor of domestic abuse at home. It redefined the character for everyone and revealed the vulnerability of the character.

His relationship with Veronica isn’t forced, but a gradual coming together of two people who have lost something. Both Logan and Veronica are filled with rage about Lilly’s death, and though they initially point it at each other, it becomes clear that they are the only two people in the world who can understand each other. Logan began the conversation of what an epic romance could look like and took fans along for the ride.

Logan’s death at the end of the season wasn’t just a move made for shock value. It also shook the foundation of why fans fell in love with the show in the first place, turning it into something that felt unrecognizable. Season 4 was left in Hulu limbo after the fact, with no clear plans to return.

Veronica Mars is now available to Netflix subscribers, with the extra season tacked on for those interested in seeing the full story, for better or worse. The ending was certainly controversial, but that doesn’t stop the beauty of the first few seasons from remaining intact. Veronica Mars became a cult classic for a reason, hammering home themes around sexual assault, domestic abuse, and class structure. It remains a perfect time capsule of the 2000s, which fans can finally enjoy on Netflix.

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Release Date

2004 – 2019

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Network

UPN, The CW, Hulu

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Directors

John T. Kretchmer, Nick Marck, Michael Fields, Harry Winer, Jason Bloom, Steve Gomer, Guy Norman Bee, Marcos Siega, Mark Piznarski, Sarah Pia Anderson, Scott Winant, Dan Etheridge, David Barrett, Joaquin Sedillo, Kevin Bray, Martha Mitchell, Nick Gomez, Rick Rosenthal, Tessa Blake, Tricia Brock, Amanda Marsalis

Writers

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John Enbom, Phil Klemmer, Dayna Lynne North, Jed Seidel, Aury Wallington

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With Valentine’s Day in the rearview mirror, what else is there to look forward to in February?

If you have a Hulu subscription, how about new films almost every week?

Watch With Us has found three new movies worth streaming this weekend.

The British drama Urchin, the sci-fi thriller The Astronaut and the ’90s comedy Sister Act starring Whoopi Goldberg and Maggie Smith are worth a watch now or later in the year.

‘Urchin’ (2025)

Mike (Frank Dillane) is a young homeless man struggling to get by in modern-day London. After a stint in jail, he finds steady work at a high-end restaurant. But his old, destructive habits threaten to upend all the progress he’s made, especially when an old friend, Simon (Harris Dickinson), comes back into his life. With no family or friends to rely on, can Mike make a new life for himself, or will his traumatic past prevent him from moving on?

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Just because there’s a three-day holiday weekend because of President’s Day doesn’t mean we’ll be short on new streaming content this week. In fact, the second week of February brings with it some fantastic new shows and movies hitting platforms like Netflix, Hulu and Prime Video. This week features a fantastic lineup of streaming debuts […]

Directed by Dickinson, Urchin is a searing slice-of-life drama that doesn’t pull any punches in its depiction of a man living in poverty. As much a victim of his own addictions as he is of a broken system, Mike struggles to be better than who he currently is, but the odds seem impossibly stacked against him. While I wouldn’t describe Urchin as fun to watch, it’s always interesting, especially when it depicts Mike’s rising and falling fortunes. The movie’s climax verges on the surreal, leaving it up to you to interpret what happens to Mike. Urchin is Dickinson’s debut as a director, and it’s good enough for you to want him to make another movie sooner rather than later.

Urchin is streaming on Hulu.

‘The Astronaut’ (2025)

Sam Walker (Kate Mara) is an astronaut who just survived a traumatic incident aboard a space station. Now back on Earth, she’s quarantined at a small cottage where she is secretly spied on by the government. After several strange incidents occur, Sam believes a strange creature is on the premises. If she’s right, what is it and does it have anything to do with what happened to her in outer space? And if not, is she slowly going insane by being isolated from her friends and family?

The Astronaut is an under-the-radar sci-fi thriller that starts with an intriguing premise and just gets stranger from there. The movie skillfully introduced several red herrings to keep you guessing where it’s going without being too cheap or manipulative. The film’s last act goes full sci-fi, with Sam uncovering a shocking secret that causes her to re-examine her entire life. What that secret is is best left for you to discover, but trust me — you won’t be disappointed.

The Astronaut is streaming on Hulu.

‘Sister Act’ (1992)

Reno lounge singer Deloris (Whoopi Goldberg) has had it with her boyfriend, Vince (Harvey Keitel). He never treated her right, but this time, he’s crossed a line — he’s killed someone! He wants to kill her, too, so she won’t rat on him, which causes Deloris to run to the police for help. They’ll protect her, but she has to disguise herself as a nun at a run-down church in San Francisco. After living a life full of sin, Deloris doesn’t know if she can fit in with God’s chosen people, but she’ll have to, or else she’ll meet the Almighty a lot sooner than she wants to.

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One of 1992’s biggest hits, Sister Act is a quintessential ‘90s comedy with a never-better Goldberg and a stellar cast full of veteran character actors living it up — and telling a dirty joke or two. The movie takes a classic “fish-out-of-water” concept and breathes new life into it, with frequently hilarious results. It’s a hoot to see Deloris try to fit in with the other nuns, who aren’t as strict and boring as she first believes them to be. The movie features several terrific musical sequences, with Deloris leading her fellow sisters in singing such classic ‘60s hits as “I Will Follow Him” with a spiritual bent. The movie spawned a less satisfying sequel, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, and a successful Broadway musical adaptation.

Sister Act is streaming on Hulu.

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