Max’s new seriesThe Pittwill beNoah Wyle’s return to medical drama after his twelve-season run onER. However, a new lawsuit alleges thatThe Pittwas meant to be anERsequel all along.Deadline reportsthat the estate ofERcreatorMichael Crichtonis suing the producers ofThe Pitt, including Wyle, for breach of contract.
The new lawsuit alleges that Crichton’s estate had been in a year-long negotiation to make a reboot ofERwith Warner Bros. Television and producers Wyle,John Wells, andR. Scott Gemmill; Wyle wouldreprise hisERroleof Dr. John Carter, the character who was said to have been Crichton’s avatar. The network then walked away from those negotiations, the suit alleges, and repackaged the proposed reboot asThe Pitt, a series set in the hectic emergency room of a Pittsburgh hospital. The lawsuit claims thatThe Pittis little more than a cosmetic reskinning ofER:
The Pitt is ER. It’s not like ER, it’s not kind of ER, it’s not sort of ER. It is ER complete with the same executive producer, writer, star, production companies, studio and network as the planned ER reboot.
The lawsuit, which was filed this morning by Crichton’s widowSherri Crichtonon behalf of his estate, charges the defendants with breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and intentional interference with contractual relations. Crichton’s lawyers are seeking a jury trial.
Who Is Michael Crichton?
Medical doctor Michael Crichton became disinterested in the world of medicine, and pursued a career in literature; after publishing several pulp novels under a variety of pen names, he established a name for himself as a writer of cool, competent techno-thrillers. Prior to the 1990s, a number of Crichton books were adapted for the screen, includingThe Andromeda Strain,The Terminal Man, andThe Great Train Robbery. He directed the latter himself, and also directed the theme-park-gone-amok classicWestworld, theMichael Douglasmedical thrillerComa,andRunaway, which pittedTom SelleckagainstGene Simmons' killer robots. After the Tyrannosaurus-sized success ofSteven Spielberg’sJurassic Park, however, Crichton’s books were snapped up for big-screen versions like lawyers off an Isla Nublar toilet. The next decade saw adaptations ofRising Sun,Congo,Disclosure,Sphere,The Lost World, andEaters of the Dead(asThe 13th Warrior). He also createdER, based on his own experiences as an emergency-room doctor, and wrote the script for 1996’s disaster movieTwister. However, the box office failure of 2003’sTimeline, Crichton’s increasingly reactionary political views, and his death in 2008 put a halt to cinema’s great Crichton gold rush.
The Pittwill star Wyle as an experienced ER doctor at an underfunded Pittsburgh hospital. It is also set to starTracy Ifeachor,Patrick Ball,Supriya Ganesh,Fiona Dourif,Taylor Dearden,Isa Briones,Gerran Howell,Shabana Azeez, andKatherine LaNasa.
The Pitthas been given a fifteen-episode order;no release date has yet been announced. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
