How The Pitt’s Night Shift Is Different From The Day Shift Chaos Explained By Season 2 Star

The Pitt has shown the harsh realities of healthcare workers in America.

The medical drama series has a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes rating of 97%, and it’s easy to see why. The Pitt is praised for showing the realities of healthcare in America, as well as the conditions and challenges healthcare workers and frontline heroes face. The series is set in a modern-day hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Grant Hermanns, Jalen Thomas Brooks, who is known for playing Nurse Mateo Diaz in HBO’s medical drama The Pitt, broke down exactly the key differences for healthcare workers on the day shift compared to the night shift. The actor says the night shift can get “crazy,” as told by ER professionals on the set of the series. When asked exactly how the night shift scenes would be tackled by the team, Brooks explained how he was prepared for the chaos.

Jalen Thomas Brooks: Yeah, they would let us know all the time. Of course, with Ambar [Martinez], Jamie [Watkins], and Melette [Le Blanc-Cabot] — who are some of the nurses in the background that are ER professionals themselves in real life — they would tell us, “Yes, the night shift can get crazy. It can also be very, at times, strangely calm. But, most importantly, it’s the characters that you find that you come across, that come into the ER at night are specific types of people. And the types of doctors and nurses that decide to work nights are different and interesting people.”

But they would tell us all the time about the calmness and the stability that these patients have, that these nurses and doctors have. They have to be really prepared for anything to happen, or to not happen, more so than the day shift, because they could see some absolute outlandish stuff and all that. So, it was this weird balance of [being] on edge — of course, it’s the same thing with the day shift — and then being relaxed.

The Pitt highlights how difficult the lives of frontline heroes can be day to day, whether that be day or night shifts. However, Brooks highlights that despite the chaos, the people helping others will remain calm regardless of what’s happening. The series has been praised for showing a more realistic view of the inner workings of a hospital for both patients and employees.

Season 2 of The Pitt is still going on with a new episode arriving on April 2, but it has already managed to topple season 1’s rankings with an outstanding 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics have stated that the HBO series’ season 2 has “great complexity” and is “a living, pulsating television organism that’s incredibly gripping.”

HBO Max Chairman and CEO Casey Bloys has stated that a third season will commence production very soon due to its incredible popularity and is expected to be released in 2027.

The Pitt is available to stream on HBO Max.