The Pitt's Noah Wyle Explains Why Collins Was MIA At End Of Season 1
Tracy Ifeachor's absence from the final four episodes of The Pitt did not go unnoticed by fans — and in a new interview, series star/executive producer Noah Wyle addresses the decision to have her character, Dr. Heather Collins, scrub out before everyone else.
Collins was last seen in Episode 11, during a tender exchange that revealed the depth of her relationship with Dr. Robby. She confided in her ex about her recent IVF journey that ended in miscarriage earlier that day, then revealed that she got pregnant while they were dating but chose to have an abortion. After assuring Collins that he was not upset, Robby gave her the OK to clock out an hour ahead of schedule.
"Go home, turn off your phone," he told her, and that she did. By the time our department chief got word that there had been a mass shooting at PittFest, his senior resident was incommunicado.
"Very deep sleeper, that Collins," Wyle jokes on "The Watch" podcast. He then explains why it was necessary that she remain unreachable for the remainder of Robby's increasingly taxing shift.
"The whole end of the season is just removing bearing walls from Robby's life," Wyle says. "He leans so heavily on Collins and Langdon, and then you take them both away from him... he leans so heavily on Dana, and then she becomes compromised... and then his one last relationship to Jake is severed when he can't save his girlfriend." The thinking was, "let's take away all this guy's support system and have him out there [alone]."
If Collins had been there, Wyle says, "I think she would have maybe been one of those voices that could have reached [Robby], and we didn't want him to be reachable."
As TVLine previously reported, Season 2 of The Pitt will premiere in January 2026, and pick up roughly 10 months later, on Fourth of July weekend. That will coincide with Langdon's first day back at work after he reluctantly agrees to seek help for his opioid abuse. "We'll see everybody [from Season 1], for the most part," series creator R. Scott Gemmill said. "Some people might be working different hours and different shifts, but it's pretty much the same crew."
Season 2 will also address Robby's mental health, and his efforts to get "healthy again" after his trip up to the roof at the end of Season 1. You can revisit our finale Q&A with Wyle below: