HBO’s critically acclaimed series The Pitt adds a Breaking Bad star in a new role, find out who

HBO’s medical drama The Pitt is officially heading into its second season, and with it comes a new face familiar to fans of prestige TV. Charles Baker, best remembered for his unforgettable turn as Skinny Pete in Breaking Bad, is stepping into a brand-new role. He’ll portray Troy, a homeless man who lands in the emergency room, adding a deeply human layer to an already emotionally rich series.

It’s a casting move that fits The Pitt’s DNA: character-driven, grounded, and unafraid to explore uncomfortable truths. And in Baker, the show gains an actor known for giving quiet complexity to overlooked roles.

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Why The Pitt Strikes a Chord

Set in a Pittsburgh ER, The Pitt separates itself from the usual medical dramas by unfolding in real time. Each episode captures a single hour of a night shift—with no time jumps or parallel storylines What you see is what’s happening, moment by moment.

The series, created by R. Scott Gemmill and backed by executive producers John Wells and Noah Wyle, first aired in January 2025 on Max. Rather than dropping all at once, episodes rolled out weekly, giving viewers space to absorb the intensity of each shift. That breathing space became part of its appeal.

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Looking Back at Season 1

The heart of season one beats through Dr. Michael Robby Robinavitch, played by Wyle. He’s a veteran of the ER, capable, compassionate, and deeply bruised by everything the pandemic left behind. The show places him and his team in the middle of a particularly chaotic night, which includes a large-scale shooting at a local festival.

Over 15 episodes, the show slowly builds to Robby’s breaking point. And when it comes, it doesn’t feel like a twist—it feels inevitable. That moment, stripped of melodrama, is what made the series so resonant: it trusted the quiet unraveling.

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How The Pitt Was Received

The audience showed up, and so did the praise. The pilot alone pulled over 16 million views. Subsequent episodes averaged around 10 million, earning the show a top-five slot among Max originals.

Critics followed suit. The Pitt landed a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a 76 on Metacritic, and glowing write-ups from NPR, The Atlantic, and The New Republic. But perhaps more telling was the response from actual healthcare workers, who commended the show’s realism and its refusal to glamorize the job.

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Charles Baker Steps In

Fans of Breaking Bad will remember Charles Baker as Skinny Pete, a character who, despite minimal screen time, left a lasting impression. He played Pete with a raw, street-smart tenderness, delivering some of the show’s most unexpectedly touching moments.

In The Pitt, Baker plays Troy, a man without a home who finds himself in the ER. The details of his storyline remain under wraps, but it’s clear his character isn’t just there to fill a bed. Troy’s presence promises to shine a light on broader social issues, poverty, access to care, and how hospitals handle patients who fall through the cracks.

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What Season 2 Has in Store

Filming for season two begins in June 2025, again in Pittsburgh. The story jumps forward ten months and unfolds over the Fourth of July weekend, a time when ERs are flooded with firework accidents, alcohol-related injuries, and the unpredictable energy of a national holiday.

New cast members include Irene Choi as Dr. Joy, Laëtitia Hollard as nurse Emma, and Lucas Iverson as James, a young med student. Robby, still reeling from the fallout of his collapse, faces the challenge of leading a team while barely keeping himself afloat.

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A New Direction for The Pitt

While the first season thrived on high-stakes emergencies, season two aims to zoom in tighter. It’s less about spectacle, more about people, those small, intimate moments that shape the way care is given and received.

Troy’s arc is expected to sit at the heart of that shift. He’s not just a patient, but a person the world overlooks. His story invites the show, and its audience, to confront that reality head-on.

Why It Still Matters

What The Pitt gets right is simple, and rare: it listens. It pays attention to the quiet despair behind hospital doors, the exhaustion in someone’s voice, the pressure of being needed when you have nothing left to give.

By bringing in Charles Baker, the show adds another voice to that chorus, one we rarely hear. His presence is not just a casting highlight; it’s a statement of purpose. Season two won’t just continue the story. It will deepen it.