‘Unforgivable’: The 'ugly truth' behind The Pitt and ER creator’s widow's legal battle as show finally lands in UK
The case against The Pitt could go to court
The Pitt is finally coming to the UK this week, thanks to the launch of HBO Max. However, it comes with some baggage: according to the widow of ER’s creator, it’s a “tremendous betrayal” – and her lawsuit could go to court.
In 1994, Michael Crichton created one of the most iconic medical TV dramas of all time: ER.
Over 20 years later, The Pitt is one of the most acclaimed shows on television. They share an important connection, beyond their genre: actor Noah Wyle. In ER, he played medical student John Carter. Now, he portrays Dr “Robby”, the senior physician at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Centre.
The question is, is The Pitt a spiritual successor to ER, or is it “theft”? The latter is exactly what Sherri Crichton has alleged.
Is The Pitt connected to ER?
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of Crichton’s lawsuit, it’s important to outline exactly what ER and The Pitt are about – and why (despite appealing to fans of both shows) they aren’t connected.
ER was a medical procedural set in County General Hospital in Chicago, following characters like Anthony Edwards’ Mark Greene and George Clooney’s Doug Ross as they navigate the ups and downs of their personal and professional lives.
It was a precursor to the walk-and-talk style of The West Wing, sprinkled with just enough melodrama (though nowhere near as much as Grey’s Anatomy) to keep it entertaining.
The Pitt has some fundamental differences. Firstly, and most importantly, they literally aren’t in the same world. It’s not just that they take place at different hospitals: they are not part of one franchise.
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Wyle may star in both shows, but he doesn’t play the same character. There are similar story threads (like both Carter and Robby arguing with a child’s mother about a measles vaccine), but they aren’t related.
Was The Pitt originally an ER spin-off?
You could argue that The Pitt was originally conceived as a spin-off of ER. However, it’s more complicated than that.
In the wake of ER’s enormous, seminal success, Wyle and producer R. Scott Gemmill pursued projects outside of the same genre. Flash forward to 2020, when Wyle was touched by messages he’d received from first responders during the pandemic, thanking him for inspiring them.
This sparked a collective effort to create an ER spin-off focused on Carter. Alas, development came to a halt when Warner Bros couldn’t reach an agreement with Sherri Crichton, the widow of Michael Crichton.
Forward-wind again to 2023. When the spin-off collapsed, HBO Max expressed interest in commissioning a medical drama with Wyle and Gemmill’s involvement. They came up with an idea: a real-time drama that chronicles a shift in a Pittsburgh hospital’s emergency room.
The first episode premiered in January 2025, and the second season aired in the US earlier this year.
So, why has Sherri Crichton sued Warner Bros over The Pitt?
According to Sherri Crichton, The Pitt represents breach of contract between her late husband’s estate and Warner Bros, as well as Wyle and Gemmill. She has alleged that it’s a reworked version of the spin-off that hadn’t been approved.
In a lengthy interview with Deadline, Crichton explained how she first learned about the spin-off days before a press announcement. “Although development had clearly begun long before, no one had mentioned anything to me… this is how we were treated from the start,” she said.
Crichton looked into the estate’s contract, and it included a “frozen rights” provision. In short, any ER project would require her permission.
Contrary to what the lawsuit may suggest, Crichton was “excited” about the prospect of a spin-off.
“We then negotiated in good faith with Warner Bros. and [producer] John Wells for nearly a year. When they broke off negotiations last October, they told us the project was dead. Nobody wanted the show. Maybe we could revisit in 5-10 years. I believed them at the time. But the project wasn’t dead. They simply changed the name and moved it to Pittsburgh,” she claimed.
“I don’t think they expected me to take legal action but I was left with no choice.”
The ‘horrible insult’ before Crichton’s lawsuit
ER wasn’t Michael Crichton’s only creation. He wrote the Jurassic Park novel, and he also penned and directed 1973’s Westworld.
It’d be fair to say the original Westworld film has been lost to time, particularly after HBO adapted the IP into its own successful TV show. However, Crichton wasn’t credited as expected.
“Only a few years earlier, Warner Bros. had produced a television adaptation of Westworld for HBO but had deliberately stripped Michael of his ‘created by’ credit, despite the fact that he had created the idea, written the original screenplay and directed the film,” Crichton explained in her interview.
“Adding insult to injury, Warner Bros. had placed Michael’s ‘based on’ credit not in the opening titles, where it almost always appears, but instead buried in the back of the end credits.
“It was a horrible insult to Michael, an author who had sold three hundred million books and a creator and writer who had made Warner Bros. billions of dollars from ER to Disclosure to Twister. I was deeply upset and Michael’s fans all over the world were outraged. I could not let that happen again on ER.”
Wells allegedly assured Crichton that things would be different with the development of the ER spin-off.
Why couldn’t Sherri Crichton reach a deal about The Pitt?
Crichton has accused Warner Bros of trying to “bully” her into a new contract, while she has said she just wanted to honour her late husband’s legacy.
“We were making progress in the negotiations until April 11, 2023, when Warner Bros. gave us a contract that they demanded be signed the same day,” she explained.
“They wanted David Zaslav to be able to announce the new ER series at a press gathering where HBO Max was being rebranded to Max and Harry Potter and other new shows were being announced, and their deadline was based on that. I needed more than a few hours to review a lengthy and detailed contract, but Warner Bros. didn’t care about that.
“It was take it now or forget it. It felt like bullying.”
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When negotiations resumed, the “created by” credit was no longer included, among other terms. “We asked to restore those points, [but] they terminated the negotiations and told us the project was dead,” she recalled.
“This is not a new playbook for Warner Bros. and it’s truly frightening. Negotiate with the heirs and if negotiations fail, just create a clone using the same cast, writers, and producers so that you don’t have to pay the creator or his family anything. It’s theft and it should scare the hell out of every creator out there.”
According to Crichton, “it may take some time but the ugly truth is going to come out”.
What has Warner Bros said about The Pitt lawsuit?
Three months after Crichton’s lawsuit, Warner Bros filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that The Pitt is “not derivative” of ER.
“While they are both medical dramas set in hospitals, this does not make The Pitt ‘derivative’ – Plaintiff does not own this generic concept, shared by numerous medical dramas set in hospitals that have aired before, during, and after ER (e.g., Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago Med, House, The Good Doctor, The Resident, and many more),” the motion reads.
In a statement, Warner Bros claimed that the lawsuit “lacks both factual and legal foundation”.
“Ms. Crichton’s description of the timeline and content of our negotiations about a potential ER reboot are incorrect, and we strongly deny her allegations,” a spokesperson said.
“Importantly, The Pitt does not include any ER intellectual property and is no more similar to ER than is Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago Med, or any of the countless other hospital medical dramas that have aired since or before ER.”
In response, Crichton addressed the studio and Casey Bloys, HBO’s CEO.
“Mr. Bloys would have you believe that, within 72 hours of breaking off negotiations with the estate, the same creative team developed a completely new and original show that has nothing in common with ER and the planned reboot beyond the fact that it is set in a hospital and stars Noah Wyle,” she said.
“That’s absurd on its face, and the facts prove otherwise. The Pitt isn’t just another medical show. It is ER.”
What has Noah Wyle said about The Pitt lawsuit?
Noah Wyle said he felt “profoundly sad and disappointed” about Sherri Crichton’s lawsuit.
“The only thing that I can legally speak to is how I feel emotionally,” he told Variety.
“This taints the legacy, and it shouldn’t have. At one point, this could have been a partnership. And when it wasn’t a partnership, it didn’t need to turn acrimonious. But on the 30th anniversary of ER, I’ve never felt less celebratory of that achievement than I do this year.”
Is the lawsuit going to court?
Updates on The Pitt lawsuit have been few and far between since last year. One thing is clear: the case could go to court.
In February 2025, a judge found that “the evidence submitted by Plaintiffs meets the minimal merit standard to demonstrate at least a prima facie case that The Pitt is derived from ER”.
“Under anti-SLAPP standards, the Court cannot find Plaintiffs claims to be totally meritless.”
A spokesperson for Sherri Crichton called the judge’s ruling an “important win for Michael Crichton and the entire creative community”.
“The Court has rejected Warner Bros.’ attempt to avoid responsibility for breaching its contract with Michael Crichton, finding that the Crichton Estate’s claim has merit and should proceed,” they said.
“Sherri Crichton was thrilled that the original team behind ER wanted to do a reboot and was shocked when Warner Bros. abruptly broke off negotiations and announced The Pitt – a carbon copy of the ‘ER’ reboot that was pitched to her. The Crichton Estate looks forward to presenting its case to a jury and is confident it will prevail.”
Read more: The best BBC dramas to stream on iPlayer now
