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You heard correctly; even before the end of season 1 of Max's breakout medical hit The Pitt, season 2 has already been confirmed for January 2026. Season 2 of the real-time medical procedural seems like a "well, duh" kind of decision now, after The Pitt's sky-high viewership and ratings, but I'll kindly remind you that there was a time when it seemed a whole lot less likely. In fact, had Max not decided to role the dice on the atypical series for streaming, it may not have happened at all.

As you've certainly noticed if you've watched the Noah Wyle-starring, R. Scott Gemmill-created series (both of whom were crucial to network TV's shining ER saga), The Pitt doesn't feel like a typical show that Max would put a bunch of money behind such as, say, The Penguin or The Last of Us. It feels a little bit smaller-budget, a little bit looser, and with a planned 15 episodes, a lot more stretched out. It feels like, well, network TV. And as it turns out, that's exactly why Max decided to risk its creation.

"There was this idea of trying to figure out," explains Max CEO Casey Bloys to Vulture, who told the outlet the release date window for The Pitt season 2, "'What’s an HBO show versus a Max show? How do you define them?'"

That's food for thought if you're an HBO die-hard, but for Bloys and his employees, that question is key to their livelihood. "A slate has to be diverse," Bloys expands. "It can’t just be all The Last of Us and House of the Dragon…. I’ve got to keep people engaged throughout the year, so you have to look for other things that can do it."

So if you're looking to distinguish the HBO and Max brands, where do you look? We're not going to pretend that a medical procedural is a revolutionary idea; network TV is littered with them throughout its history. But streaming TV simply has not been, which makes crafting a full 15-episode a gamble with little previous experience to bank on. "One of the thoughts," says Bloys, was, "'Well, a network-type show is not something we would normally do for HBO.'"

Of course, we know now that Max's decision to produce a series atypical of its sister brand HBO was a great one, risks be damned. "[I]t’s a show that has done incredibly well on every metric," Bloys is thrilled to report. "On reviews, on performance, on the audience it’s bringing. It’s even starting conversations in the medical field about being the most realistic medical procedural people have seen."

We started this piece by saying that it's not surprise The Pitt is getting a season 2. But to expand on that, we wouldn't be surprised if Max was to use its example to explore other traditional network TV-style shows after that. A 20-episode workplace sitcom might be in the mix; or perhaps a Law & Order-style legal drama. 

"One reason I’m very happy with The Pitt is," Bloys shares, "it is something I can point to concretely and say, 'That is a great example of a Max original.' It’s doing something that an HBO show isn’t, and now it’s not just theoretical."

We agree that it's not, Mr. Bloys, and at the same time, we're thrilled you took a risk on it when it was.

The Pitt airs new episodes on every Thursday night on Max. Season 2 airs some time in January 2026.

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