Noah Wyle's Plan To Fix Dr. Robby's Misogyny: Cast More Men
His statement comes after two fan-fave The Pitt women were confirmed to exit the show.
The Pitt star and executive producer Noah Wyle knew Season 2 would show Dr. Robby’s fall from grace, but it’s unclear just how intentional a particularly thorny side effect of that arc was. Throughout the sophomore season, a mentally unstable Dr. Robby lashed out at just about everyone around him, but it was his women co-workers who seemed to receive his harshest jabs. This misogyny caused a lot of backlash both online and among the show’s cast, so if he wasn’t aware of it before, Wyle certainly is cognizant of it now. But his strategy for fixing the issue might not be the best plan of action.
Shortly after Season 2 aired, several female cast members of The Pitt said they “noticed” Robby’s misogyny “the whole time,” and they “don’t know exactly” if it was a “purposeful” trait included by the writers or not. When Wyle was asked about Robby’s flaws by the Los Angeles Times on Aug. 6, he admitted his character’s mistreatment of the women around him was a “blind spot.” While he justifies some of that by emphasizing Robby is “a guy who’s going to kill himself” so of course he’s pushing people away, he wishes the recipients of his rage were more... male.
“I did say in casting, I was like, ‘Can we cast some guys that are like my size that I could yell at that so people feel like it’s a good, fair fight?’” Wyle said, adding that this was heavy on his mind heading into the upcoming third season. “We’re going to sort of figure that out because it’s nice to show volatility in character, but if it’s a character that’s surrounded by women, it’s very difficult thing to depict without it seeming disproportionate in power. So it’s something I was conscious of when I came back this year.”
Ensuring Robby’s outbursts are not solely directed toward women is a step in the right direction. And yet, hiring more male actors (and thus, less non-male actors) does seem like a backwards way to address claims of misogyny. This situation is all worsened by the fact that two of The Pitt’s female leads — Supriya Ganesh and Sepideh Moafi — were shockingly confirmed to not return in Season 3. A year earlier, Season 1 star Tracy Ifeachor was written out of the show despite having a main role in its debut season.
Well, on the bright side, it sounds like Dr. Mohan and Dr. Al-Hashimi will be free from Robby’s misogynistic tirades — even if it the rest of the physicians won’t be so lucky.
