"The Pitt"'s first season earned 13 Emmy nominations last year, winning five of them, including outstanding drama series, but was surpassed this year by its second season with no fewer than 25 nominations, the highest number of any series in any category.
The number surprised even showrunner and creator R. Scott Gemmill, who described the amount of nominations as "almost embarrassing" but "wonderful".
Gemmill explained that the first season was different because they wrote and produced the entire season without a confirmed premiere date, without receiving any feedback on the series. "We didn't really know if anyone was going to watch it," he said. The first season's nominations were a surprise and exciting validation, he added, but in the second season he only hoped they wouldn't be ignored.
When sitting down to write the second season, the producers focused their aspirations on the character of Dr. "Robby" Robinavitch, played by Noah Wyle. Gemmill explained that they brought the character to a breaking point in the first season and then explored his recovery, considering how he would respond to that situation. Mental health became an important part of Robby's journey and reflects a crucial component of modern emergency healthcare.
Gemmill acknowledged that the second season presented challenges that didn't exist in the first. "In the first season, I had the novelty of the series. People didn't know what to expect," he explained. "In the second season, everything you presented in the first season, now you're stuck with that". Moreover, he said, the series received so much recognition and notoriety that it put them under scrutiny, having to prove that "it wasn't just luck". However, he added that he was confident in what they had done because they did it without real expectations, just trying to tell authentic stories about healthcare workers.